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1, My 





THE LIBRARY 
OF 


THE UNIVERSiigs@ 
OF CALIFORNIA 
LOS ANGELES 








HER ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTER 


7 


AS 








PHILADELPHIA : Bias 
PORTER & COATES, Aes 
~~ Laney 


: — Copyrient, 1974. 


sy JAMES R. OSGOOD & CO 








CONTENTS. 


. THE Doctor’s INVENTORY . 

. ALTAmont’s First Worps 

. SEVENTEEN Days oF LAND JOURNEY 

. Tue Last CHARGE OF POWDER . - 
. THE SEAL AND THE BEAR . 

. THE PoRPOISE . 


. A Discussion ABOUT CHARTS 


EXcuRSION TO THE Norru oF Vicrory Bay 


. Coty AND HEAT 


THE PLEASURE OF WINTER-QUARTERS . 


. DiIsqureTine TRACES 


. THE Ice Prison 


THE MINE 


. THE PonaAR SPRING . 

. THE NoRTHWEsT PASSAGE . 
. NorTHERN ARCADIA 

. ALTAMONT’s REVENGE. 

. THe Last PREPARATIONS 

. THe Journey Nortruwarp 
. Foorrrints ON THE SNOW 


. THe Open SEA 


665910 


PaGE 


107 
114 
123 
132 
138 
143 
152 
160 


vi 


XXII. 
XXIII. 
XXIV. 

XXV. 
XXVI. 

XXVII. 


CONTENTS. 


Tur APPROACH TO THE POLE 
Tue EnGuisH Fnac . 
PoLAR COSMOGRAPHY 

Mount HaAttTERAS 

RETURN TO THE SOUTH . 


CONCLUSION . % 5 A 





LARGE PIECES OF ee ENGINE LAY HERE AND THERE, 
‘TWISTED OUT OF SHAPE” . . . . . . . 


HEY HARNESSED THE TIRED DOGS” ~ - + + +2 6 
be 
son’s Story . 5 : - uae : : . 



















ES! SAID THE AMERICAN” - 5 z ; Re re 
DOCTOR WAS FORTUNATE ENOUGH TO FIND A SEAL” ; 
? THE END OF TWO HOURS THEY FELL EXHAUSTED” . e 






y See 

a 3 “The PLUNGED HIS KNIFE INTO THE BEASTS THROAT” . as 
ay int 

“HESE CASTAWAYS LOOKED AT THEMSELVES AS COLONISTS WHO 

_ HAD REACHED THEIR DESTINATION” 





















4 
yes [HE FORT WAS COMPLETED - - . . 5 . ° = 


a “T am NoT hee THAT IT BEARS ANY NAME ON THE MOST) 
> ty _ RECENT MAPS” . . . . . . . 6 Nie 


THE DOCTOR REACHED THE SUMMIT WITH SOME LITTLE DIFFI- <s 
a CULTY” . ‘ F F . 5 “ ; i r 2 


‘Tey ADVANCED IN FULL ILLUMINATION, AND THEIR SHARPLY 
CUT SHADOWS RAN OUT BEHIND THEM OVER THE SNOW” 


He DID HIS BEST TO INSTRUCT AND INTEREST HIS COMPANIONS” 


‘FArreras COULD ONLY KEEP HIS DISTANCE FROM THE ae 
“BY THROWING AWAY HIS CAP, HATCHET, AND EVEN HIS GuN” 


: “Tus BEARS HEAPED THE ICE IN SUCH A WAY AS TO RENDER 
__—s- FLIGHT IMPOSSIBLE” . é ‘ : A : 5 ‘ 2 


ONT. AN ENORMOUS BLACK BODY APPEARED IN THE GLOOM OF THE 
«ROOM. ALTAMONT RAISED HIS HAND TO STRIKE 1 ie 


axe. A Loup EXPLOSION FOLLOWED” . 5 : s 3 ; 
THE CARPENTER SET TO WORK AT ONCE”’ . J Saas 

\ HARD STRUGGLE WITH THE ICEBERGS” . A : i at 

URE SAW A MAN RUNNING AND GESTICULATING” 


Doctor, JOHNSON, AND BELL INTERVENED. IT WAS TIME: 
THE TWO ENEMIES WERE GAZING AT ONE ANOTHER” . 


WERE A CURIOUS AND TOUCHING SIGHT, FLYING ABOUT 
OUT FEAR, RESTING ON CLAWBONNY’S SHOULDERS,” ETC. 130 — 


‘HIM A TERRIBLE BLOW WITH A HATCHET ON THE HEAD”) 135 






































Vill LIST OF FULL-PAGE ILLUSTRATIONS. 


“WeELL, I’VE BROUGHT BACK TWO BROTHERS” . ; e “ 
“THE SEAL STRUGGLED FOR A FEW SECONDS, AND WAS THEN SUF- 


FOCATED ON THE BREAST OF HIS ADVERSARY”’ . 3 
“THEY LEFT AT SIX O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING” f 5 3 
“On THE 29TH BELL SHOT A FOX, AND ALTAMONT A MEDIUM- 

SIZED MUSK-OX” . % 5 : - 3 . : s 
“Tm MASSES OF ICE TOOK THE FORMS OF HUMMOCKS AND ICE- 

BERGS” x ‘ 5 i : ; 5 3 3 x i 
“ON ALL SIDES RESOUNDED THE CRACKING OF THE ICE AMID 

THE ROAR OF THE AVALANCHES” : 2 z 5 ; 
“Wr OUGHT,’ ANSWERED BELL, “TO LIGHT TORCHES, AS IS 

DONE AT LONDON AND LIVERPOOL” : ‘: 5 _ 
Tie HUT WAS PITCHED IN A RAVINE FOR SHELTER g 
“THREE HOURS LATER THEY REACHED THE COAST. ‘THE SEA! 

THE SEA!’ THEY ALL SHOUTED : ™ P 3 - r 
“Tippy CLIMBED A HILL WHICH COMMANDED A WIDE VIEW” . 
“T7m LAUNCH WAS ROCKING GENTLY IN HER LITTLE HARBOR” . 
“AQUATIC BIRDS OF ALL SORTS WERE THERE” A A < 
“THEN THE EYE GLANCING DOWN INTO THE TRANSPARENT WATER, 

THE SIGHT WAS EQUALLY STRANGE” : - 3 é . 
“<Ts A VOLCANO!’ HE CRIED” : i , . 4 x i 
“THe LAUNCH TOSSED HELPLESSLY ABOUT” ; 3 ; . 
“Dae FOG WITHOUT LIFTING WAS VERY BRIGHT” ‘ : . 
“THIS DRIFTING FLOE WAS COVERED WITH WHITE BEARS, CROWDED 

TOGETHER” . 2 5 : Z 5 : : ‘| : 
“fpr SAIL FLEW AWAY LIKE A HUGE WHITE BIRD; A WHIRLPOOL, 

A NEW MAELSTROM, FORMED AMONG THE WAVES” A ; 
“Tite MOUNTAIN WAS IN FULL ERUPTION” 3 : : é 
“HEY NOTICED A LITTLE FIORD” : : ; ‘ " A 
“ ALTAMONT SOON FOUND A GROTTO IN THE ROCKS” . Z 
“THEY WERE ALL READY TO LISTEN TO THE DOCTOR” ‘ 5 
“THEY SAW THE CAPTAIN STANDING ON A ROCK” . _ A 
“TIATTERAS APPEARED TO WAKE FROM HIS REVERY” . : a 
“Bur HATTERAS DID NOT LOOK BACK. HE HAD MADE USE OF HIS 

STAFF AS A POLE ON WHICH TO FASTEN THE ENGLISH FLAG” 
“Tie DOCTOR PUT UP A CAIRN” : P : 5 . ‘ 
“DEAD—FROZEN” : ‘ : ; ; a Lee . 


“Two HOURS LATER, AFTER UNHEARD-OF EFFORTS, THE LAST MEN 
OF THE FORWARD WERE TAKEN ABOARD THE DANISH WHALER 
HANns CHRISTIAN” ; : 4 7: : ; ; 


6 A STEAMBOAT CARRIED THEM TO KIEL” . R P ‘ : 
















CHAP TERT, 
THE DOCTOR’S INVENTORY. 


“Tue design which Captain Hatteras had formed of exploring 
North, and of giving England the honor of discovering the 
Pole, was certainly a bold one. This hardy sailor had just done 


ts : ; 
all that human skill could do. After struggling for nine months 


ae against contrary winds and seas, after destroying icebergs and 
e-fields, after enduring the severity of an unprecedentedly cold 


in short, after completing half his task, he saw his wei plans 
_ completely overthrown. ‘I'he treachery, or rather the demorali- 
zation of his wearied crew, the criminal folly of some of the ring- 
vis a left him in a terrible situation ; of the ae men who 


- home! ! 
ES The explosion of the Morward, which had just blown up before 


Th e men who were left were the best of the crew ; ee were 
He made an appeal to the energy ond wisdom 


own faith in the enterprise ; even in these desperate straits he 


itured to speak of hope ; his brave companions listened to him, 


Bei es 


eyes, took from them their last means of subsistence. SE 


ee 


9 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


The doctor, after listening to the captain’s words, wanted to. 


get an exact idea of their situation ; and, leaving the others about 
five hundred feet from the ship, he made his way to the scene of 
the catastrophe. 

Of the Yorward, which had been built with so much care, noth- 


ing was left ; pieces of ice, shapeless fragments all blackened and ~ 


charred, twisted pieces of iron, ends of ropes still burning like fuse, 
and scattered here and there on the ice-field, testified to the force 
of the explosion. he cannon had been hurled to some distanee, 
and was lying on a piece of ice that looked like a gun-carriage. 
The surface of the ice, for a circle of six hundred feet in diameter, 
was covered with fragments of all sorts; the brig’s keel lay under 
amass of ice; the icebergs, which had been partly melted by the 
fire, had already recovered their rock-like hardness. 

The doctor then began to think of his ruined cabin, of his lost 
collections, of his precious instruments destroyed, his books torn, 


burned to ashes. So much that was valuable gone! He gazed with - 


tearful eyes at this vast disaster, thinking not of the future, but 
of the irreparable misfortune which dealt him so severe a blow. 
He was immediately joined by J ohnson ; the old sailor’s face bore 
signs of his recent sufferings ; he had been obliged to struggle 
against his revolted companions, defending the ship which had 
been intrusted to his care. ‘The 
doctor sadly pressed the boat- 
swain’s hand. 

“Well, my friend, what is 
going to become of us?” asked 


the doctor. 


Johnson. 

“At any rate,” continued the 
doctor, “don’t let us give way 
to despair; let us be men!” 

‘‘Yes, Doctor,’ answered the 
old sailor, “you are right; it’s 





when matters look worst that we most need courage ; we are in & 
bad way ; we must see how we can best get out of it.” 


‘Who can say?” answered 





> 


i. 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 3 





! 


there ’s not left a piece that can be recognized 
> ee “Who would think, Doctor, that this mass of dust and ashes 
_____ could be so dear to our heart ?” 
% S “ And the launch,” continued the doctor, gazing around, “ was 
it destroyed too?” 
“No, Doctor ; Shandon and the others, who left, took it with 

_ them.” 
“ And the gig?” 

* Was broken into a thousand pieces. See, those sheets of tin 
are all that’s left of her.” 

“Then we have nothing but the Halkett-boat ?” * 
2 “That is all, and it is because you insisted on our taking it, 

j that we have that.” 

“Tt’s not of much use,” said the doctor. 

“They were a pack of miserable, cowardly traitors who ran 
away!” said Johnson. ‘ May they be punished as they de- 
serve !” 

The “ Johnson,” answered the doctor, mildly, “we must remember 
that their suffering had worn upon them very much. Only ex- 
ceptional natures remain stanch in adversity, which completely 
oyerthrows the weak. Let us rather pity than curse them !” 
ae After these words the doctor remained silent for a few minutes, 
| and gazed around uneasily. 
“ What is become of the sledge?” asked Johnson. 
“We left it a mile back.” 
“In care of Simpson ?” 
“No, my friend ; poor Simpson sank under the toil of the trip.” 
“Dead!” cried the boatswain. 
oe “ Dead!” answered the doctor. 
< “Poor fellow!” said Johnson; “but who knows whether we 
may not soon be reduced to envying his fate?” 
7 “But we have brought back a dying man in place of the one 
owe lost,” answered the doctor. 
“A dying man?” 





ie 2a 


* Made of india-rubber, and capable of being inflated at pleasure. 





4 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


“Yes, Captain Altamont.” 

The doctor gave the boatswain in a few words an account of 
their finding him. 

“An American !” said Johnson, thoughtfully. 

“Yes; everything seems to point that way. But what was 
this Porpoise which had evidently been shipwrecked, and what 
was he doing in these waters ?” 

“He came in order to be lost,” answered Johnson; “he brought 
his crew to death, like all those whose foolhardiness leads them 
here. But, Doctor, did the expedition accomplish what it set out 
for?” 

“ Finding the coal?” 

“ Yes,” answered Johnson. 

The doctor shook his head sadly. 

“ None at all?” asked the old sailor. 

“None; our supplies gave out, fatigue nearly conquered us. 
We did not even reach the spot mentioned by Edward Belcher.” 

“So,” continued Johnson, “ you have no fuel ?” 

No.” 

“ Nor food?” 

“No.” 

*€ And no boat with which to reach England ?” 

They were both silent ; they needed all their courage to meet 
this terrible situation. 

“ Well,” resumed the boatswain, “‘ there can be no doubts about 
our condition! We know what we have to expect! But the first 
thing to do, when the weather is so cold, is to build a snow- 
house.” 

“Yes,” answered the doctor, ‘‘ with Bell’s aid that will be easy ; 
then well go after the sledge, we’ll bring the American. here, 
and then we’ll take counsel with Hatteras.” 

“ Poor captain!” said Johnson, forgetting his own griefs ; “he 
must suffer terribly.” 

With these words they returned to their companions. Hat- 
teras was standing with folded arms, as usual, gazing silently into 
space. His face wore its usual expression of firmness. Of what 
was this remarkable man thinking? Of his desperate condition — 





THE DESERT OF ICE. 5 





| and shattered hopes? Was he planning to return, since both men 
and the elements had combined against his attempt ! 

No one could have read his thoughts, which his face in no way 
expressed. His faithful Duke was with him, braving a tempera- 
ture of —32°. 

Bell lay motionless on the ice ; his insensibility might cost him 
his life; he was in danger of being frozen to death. Johnson 
shook him violently, rubbed him with snow, and with some diffi- 
culty aroused him from his torpor. 

“Come, Bell, take courage!” he said; “don’t lose heart ; get 
up; we have to talk matters over, and we need a shelter. Have 
you forgotten how to make a snow-house? Come, help me, Bell! 
There ’s an iceberg we can cut into! Come, to work! That will 
_ give us what we need, courage ! ” 

Bell, aroused by these words, obeyed the old sailor. 

“Meanwhile,” Johnson went on, “the doctor will be good 
enough to go to the sledge and bring it back with the dogs.” 

“T am ready,” answered the doctor; “in an hour I shall be 
back.” 

“Shall you go too, Captain?” added Johnson, turning to Hat- 
teras. ; 

Although he was deep in thought, the captain heard the boat- 
swain’s question, for he answered gently, — 

“No, my friend, if the doctor is willing to go alone. We must 
form some plan of action, and I want to be alone to think matters 
over. Go. Do what you think right for the present. I will be 
thinking of the future.” 

Johnson turned to the doctor. 

“Tt’s singular,” he said ; “the captain seems to have forgotten 
his anger ; his voice never was so gentle before.” 

“Well!” answered the doctor; ‘he has recovered his presence 
of mind. Mark my words, Johnson, that man will be able to 
save us!” 

Thereupon the doctor wrapped himself up as well as he could, 
and, staff in hand, walked away towards the sledge in the midst 
of a fog which the moonlight made almost bright. Johnson 
and Bell set to work immediately ; the old sailor encouraged 


Ae PR ti pten e a 


Oy 





6 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


the carpenter, who wrought on in silence; they did not need 
to build, but to dig into the solid ice; to be sure it was frozen 
very hard, and so rendered the task difficult, but it was thereby 
additionally secure ; soon Johnson and Bell could work comfort- 
: 3 _ ably in the orifice, 
ee throwing outside all 
that they took from 
the solid mass. 
From time to time 
Hatteras would walk 
fitfully, stopping 
suddenly every now 


























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































he did not wish to 
reach the spot where — 
his brig had been. As he had promised, the doctor was soon 
back; he brought with him Altamont, lying on the sledge be- 
neath all the coverings ; the Greenland dogs, thin, tired, and half 
starved, could hardly drag the sledge, and were gnawing at their 
harness ; it was high time that men and beasts should take some 








rest. 

While they were digging the house, the doctor happened to 
stumble upon a small stove which had not been injured by the 
explosion, and with a piece of chimney that could be easily re- 
paired: the doctor carried it away in triumph. At the end of 
three hours the house was inhabitable ; the stove was set in and 
filled with pieces of wood; it was soon roaring and giving out a 
comfortable warmth. 

The American was brought in and covered up carefully; the 
four Englishmen sat about the fire. The last supplies of the 
sledge, a little biscuit and some hot tea, gave them some comfort. 
Hatteras did not speak ; every one respected his silence. When 
the meal was finished the doctor made a sign for Johnson to fol- 
low him outside. 

“ Now,” he said, ‘‘we are going to make an inventory of what 
is left. We must know exactly what things we have; they are 
scattered all about ; we must pick them up; it may snow at any 
moment, and then it would be impossible to find a scrap.” 


and then ; evidently 








































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“The large pieces of the eng 





ine lay here and there, twisted out of shape.’”’ — Page 7. 











THE DESERT OF ICE. 7 


“Don’t let us lose any time, then,” answered Johnson ; “food 
and wood is what we need at once.” 


~ Well, let us each take a side,” answered the doctor, “so as to . 


cover the whole ground ; let us begin at the centre and go out to 


the circumference.” 


They went at once to the bed of ice where the Forward had 
lain; each examined with care all the fragments of the ship be- 


‘neath the dim light of the moon. It was a genuine hunt; the 


doctor entered into this occupation with all the zest, not to say 
the pleasure, of a sportsman, and his heart beat high when he 
discovered a chest almost intact; but most were empty, and 
their fragments were scattered everywhere. 

The violence of the explosion had been considerable; many 
things were but dust and ashes; the large pieces of the engine 
lay here and there, twisted out of shape; the broken flanges of 
the screw were hurled twenty fathoms from the ship and buried 
deeply in the hardened snow; the bent cylinders had been torn 
from their pivots; the chimney, torn nearly in two, and with 
chains still hanging to it, lay half hid under a large cake of ice ; 
the bolts, bars, the iron-work of the helm, the sheathing, all the 
metal-work of the ship, lay about as if it had been fired from a gun. 

But this iron, which would have made the fortune of a tribe of 
Esquimaux, was of no use under the circumstances ; before any- 
thing else food had to be found, and the docter did not discover a 


_ great deal. 


“That ’s bad,” he said to himself; “it is evident that the 
store-room, which was near the magazine, was entirely destroyed 
‘by the explosion; what wasn’t burned was shattered to dust. 
It’s serious ; and if Johnson is not luckier than I am, I don’t see 
what ’s going to become of us.” 

Still, as he enlarged his circles, the doctor managed to collect a 
few fragments of pemmican, about fifteen pounds, and four stone 
bottles, which had been thrown out upon the snow and so had 
escaped destruction ; they held five or six pints of brandy. 

Farther on he picked up two packets of grains of cochlearia, 
which would well make up for the loss of their lime juice, which 
is so useful against the scurvy. 


$a 





8 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


Two hours later the doctor and Johnson met. They told one 
another of their discoveries; unfortunately they had found but 
little to eat : some few pieces of salt pork, fifty pounds of pemmi- 
ean, three sacks of biscuit, a little chocolate, some brandy, and 
about two pounds of coffee, picked up berry by berry on the ice. 

No coverings, no hammocks, no clothing, were found; evi- 
dently the fire had destroyed all. In short, the doctor and boat- 
swain had found supplies for three weeks at the outside, and with 
the strictest economy ; that was not much for them in their state 
of exhaustion. So, in consequence of these disasters, Hatteras 
found himself not only without any coal, but also short of pro- 
visions. 

As to the fuel supplied by the fragments of the ship, the pieces 
of the masts and the keel, they might hold out about three 
weeks; but then the doctor, before using it to heat their new 
dwelling, asked Johnson whether out of it they might not build a 
new ship, or at least a launch. 

“No, Doctor,” answered the boatswain, ‘it’s impossible ; 
there’s not a piece of wood large enough; it’s good for nothing 
except to keep us warm for a few days and then—” 

“Then?” asked the doctor. 

“God alone knows,” answered the sailor. 

Having made out their list, the doctor and Johnson went after 
the sledge ; they harnessed the tired dogs, returned to the scene 
of the explosion, packed up the few precious objects they had 
found, and carried them to their new house ; then, half frozen, 
they took their place near their companions in misfortune. 


CHAP EER ais 
ALTAMONT’S FIRST WORDS. 


Towarps eight o’clock in the evening the snow-clouds cleared 
away for a few minutes ; the constellations shone brilliantly in the 
clear air. Hatteras made use of this change to get the altitude 























































































































i 
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“They harnessed the tired dogs.’’ — Paze g 





THE DESERT OF ICE. 9 


of some stars; he went out without saying a word, carrying his 
instruments with him. He wished to ascertain his position and 


see if the ice-field had not been drifting again. After an absence 
of half an hour he came back, lay down in a corner, and remained 
perfectly still, although not asleep. 

The next day snow began to fall heavily ; the doctor could not 
help being glad that he had made his examination the day before, 
for a white curtain soon covered the whole expanse, and every 
trace of the explosion was hidden under three feet of snow. 

On that day they could not set foot outside; fortunately their 
quarters were comfortable, or at least seemed so to the exhausted 
travellers. The little stove worked well, except occasionally 
when violent gusts drove the smoke into the room ; with its heat 
they could make coffee and tea, which are both so serviceable 
beverages when the temperature is low. 

The castaways, for they deserve the name, found themselves 
more comfortable than they had been for a long time ; hence they 
only thought of the present, of the agreeable warmth, of the brief 
rest, forgetting, or even indifferent to the future, which threat- 
ened with speedy death. 

The American suffered less, and gradually returned to life; he 
opened his eyes, but he did not say anything ; his lips bore traces 
of the scurvy, and could not utter a sound; he could hear, and 
was told where he was and how he got there. He moved his 
head as a sign of gratitude; he saw that he had been saved from 
burial beneath the snow ; the doctor forbore telling him how very 
short a time his death had been delayed, for, in a fortnight or three 
weeks at the most, their supply of food would be exhausted. 

Towards midday Hatteras arose and went up to the doctor, 
Johnson, and Bell. 

“My friends,” he said to them, ‘we are going to take a final 
resolution as to the course we must follow. In the first place, I 
must ask Johnson to tell me under what circumstances this act 
of treachery came to pass.” 

“Why should we know?” said the doctor; ‘the fact is cer- 
tain, we need give it no more thought.” 

“JT am thinking of it, all the same,” answered Hatteras. “ But 


pao, 


Sa SE 


10 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


after I’ve heard what Johnson has to say, I shall not think of it 
again.” 

“This is the way it happened,” went on the boatswain; “T did 
all I could to prevent the crime —” 

“JT am sure of that, Johnson, and I will add that the leaders 
had been plotting it for some time.” 

“So I thought,” said the doctor. 

«And I too,” continued Johnson; “for very soon after your 
departure, Captain, on the very next day, Shandon, who was 
angry with you and was egged on by the others, took command 
of the ship; I tried to resist, but in vain. After that, every one 
acted as he saw fit; Shandon did not try to control them; he 
wanted to let the crew see that the time of suffering and priva- 
tion had gone by. Hence there was no economy; a huge fire 
was lighted in the stove; they began to burn the brig. The men 
had the provisions given them freely, and the spirits too, and you 
can easily imagine the abuse they made of them after their long 
abstinence. Things went on in this way from the 7th to the 
15th of January.” 

“So,” said Hatteras, in a grave voice, “it was Shandon who in- 


‘cited the men to revolt?” 


“Yes, Captain.” 

“Say nothing more about him. Go on, J ohnson.” 

“Tt was towards January 24th or 25th, that the plan of leay- 
ing the ship was formed. They determined to reach the western 
coast of Baftin’s Bay ; from there, in the launch, they could meet 
whalers, or, perhaps, the settlements on the eastern side. Their 
supplies were abundant ; the sick grew better with the hope of 
reaching home. So they made their plans for leaving ; they built 
a sledge for the transport of their food, fuel, and the launch ; the 
men were to drag it themselves. This occupied them until Feb- 
ruary 15th. I kept anxiously awaiting your return, Captain, and 
yet I feared having you present; you would have had no influ- 
ence over the crew, who would rather have killed you than have 
remained on board. They were wild with the hope of escape. I 
took all my companions aside and spoke to them, I besought 
them to stay; I pointed out all the dangers of such a journey, 








i My HN H 
ey | 
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Johnson's Story. — Page 11 





THE DESERT OF ICE. a ll 


as well as the cowardliness of abandoning you. I could get noth- 
ing, even from the best. They chose February 22d for leaving. 
Shandon was impatient. They heaped upon the sledge all the 
food and liquor it could hold; they took a great deal of wood ; 
the whole larboard side had been cut away to the water-line. The 
last day they passed carousing; they ravaged and stole every- 
thing, and it was during this drunkenness that Pen and two or 
three others set fire to the ship. I resisted, and struggled against 
them ; they threw me down and struck me; at last, these vil- 
lains, with Shandon at their head, fled to the east, and disap- 
peared from my sight. I remained alone; what could I do 
against this fire which was seizing the whole ship? The water- 
hole was frozen over ; I had n’t a drop of water. For two days 
- the Forward was wrapped in flames, and you know the rest.” 

Having finished this account, a long silence prevailed in this 
ice-house ; the gloomy tale of the burning of the ship, the loss of 
their precious brig, appeared so vividly before the minds of the 
castaways ; they found themselves before an impossibility, and 
that was a return to England. They did not dare to look at 
one another, for fear of seeing on each other's faces blank despair. 
There was nothing to be heard save the hasty breathing of the 
American. 

At last Hatteras spoke. 

“Johnson,” said he, “I thank you; you have done all you 
could to save my ship. But you could not do anything alone. 

Again I thank you, and now don’t let us speak again of this mis- 
fortune. Let us unite our efforts for the common safety. There 
are four of us here, four friends, and the life of one is of no more 
worth than the life of another. Let each one give his opinion on 
what should be done.” 

“ Ask us, Hatteras,” answered the doctor ; “ we are all devoted 
to you, our answers shall be sincere. And, in the first place, have 
you any plan ?” 

“T can’t have any alone,” said Hatteras, sadly. ‘‘ My opinion 
might seem interested ; I want to hear your opinion first.” 

“Captain,” said Johnson, “before speaking on such weighty 


matters, I have an important question to ask you.” 
4 








‘ 12 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 
“What is it?” 

“You ascertained our position yesterday ; well, has the ice-field 
% drifted any more, or are we in just the same place ?” 
% “Tt has not stirred,” answered Hatteras. ‘‘The latitude before 
3 we left was 80° 15’, and longitude 97° 35/.” 


“And,” said Johnson, “ how far are we from the nearest sea to 
MR the west ?” 
) “ About six hundred miles,’ answered Hatteras. 
| “ And this water is —” 

«Smith’s Sound.” 

“The same which we could not éross last April?” 

“The same.” 

“Well, Captain, now we know where we are, and we can make 
up our minds accordingly.” 

“Speak, then,” said Hatteras, letting his head sink into his 








; hands. 

3 In that way he could hear his friends without looking at them. 
: “Well, Bell,” said the doctor, ‘ what do you think is the best 
a. course to follow 2” 


Z 


“Tt isn’t necessary to reflect a long time,” answered the car- 
penter ; “we ought to return, without wasting a day or an hour, 
either to the south or the west, and reach the nearest coast, even 
if it took us two months!” 

“We have supplies for only three weeks,” answered Hatteras, 
without raising his head. 

“Well,” continued Johnson, “ we must make that distance in 
three weeks, since it’s our only chance of safety; if we have 
to crawl on our knees at the end, we must leave, and arrive in 
twenty-five days.” 

“This part of the northern continent is not known,” answered 
Hatteras. “We may meet obstacles, such as mountains and 
glaciers, which will completely bar our progress.” 

“T don’t consider that,” answered the doctor, “a sufficient 
reason for not attempting the journey ; evidently, we shall suffer 
a great deal; we ought to reduce our daily supply to the mini- 
mum, unless luck in hunting — ” 

“‘There’s only half a pound of powder left,” answered Hatteras. 


ke ts 


7 ree 





. ie ae © Re 
on a) = 

a 

= 


of here THE DESERT OF ICE. 13 


— 
eet 
4 


--——- *Come, Hatteras,” resumed the doctor, “I know the weight of 
all your objections, and I don’t nourish any vain hopes. But I 
think I can read your thoughts ; have you any practicable plan ?” 
e “No,” answered the captain, after a few moments’ hesitation. 

“You do not doubt our courage,” continued the doctor; “we 
are willing to follow you to the last, you know very well; but 
should we not now abandon all hope of reaching the Pole? Mutiny 
has overthrown your plans ; you fought successfully against nat- 
ural obstacles, but not against the weakness and perfidy of men ; 
you have done all that was humanly possible, and [ am sure you 
would have succeeded ; but, in the present condition of affairs, 
are you not compelled to give up your project, and in order to 
take it up again, should you not try to reach England without 
delay ?” 

“Well, Captain?” asked Johnson, when Hatteras had remained 
a long time silent. 

At last the captain raised his head, and said in a constrained 
tone, — 

“Do you think you are sure of reaching the shore of the sound, 
tired as you are, and almost without food ?” 

“No,” answered the doctor; “but it’s sure the shore won’t 
come to us; we must go to it. Perhaps we shall find to the 
south tribes of Esquimaux who may aid us.” 

“ Besides,” added Johnson, “‘may we not find in the sound 
some ship that has been forced to winter there.” 

* And if need be,” continued the doctor, “ when we’ve reached 
the sound, may we not. cross it, and reach the west coast of Green- 
land, and then, either by Prudhoe’s Land, or Cape York, get to 
‘some Danish settlement? Nothing of that sort is to be found on 
the ice-field. The way to England is down there to the south, 
and not here to the north!” 

“Yes,” said Bell, “« Dr. Clawbonny is right ; we must go, and go 
at once. Hitherto we have forgotten home too much, and those 
who are dear to us.” 

“Do you agree, Johnson?” Hatteras asked again. 

“Yes, Captain.” 

. “ And you, Doctor?” 








7. 
x 
a 
i 
be 





14 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


“Yes, Hatteras.” 

Hatteras still remained silent ; in spite of all he could do, his 
face expressed his agitation. His whole life depended on the 
decision he should take ; if he should return, it was all over with 
his bold plans ; he could not hope to make the attempt a fourth 
time. 

The doctor, seeing the captain was silent, again spoke. 

“T ought to add, Hatteras,” he said, “that we ought not to 
lose an instant; we ought to load the sledge with all our provis- 
ions, and take as much wood as possible. A journey of six hun- 
dred miles under such circumstances is long, I confess, but not 
insuperable ; we can, or rather we ought, to make twenty miles a 
day, which would bring us to the coast in a month, that is to say, 
towards March 26th.” 

“But,” said Hatteras, “can’t we wait a few days?” 

“What do you hope for?” answered Johnson. 

“T don’t know. Who can foretell the future? Only a few 
days yet! It’s hardly enough to rest your wearied bodies. We 
could n’t go two stages without dropping from weariness, without 
any snow-house to shelter us !” 

“ But a terrible death certainly awaits us here!” cried Bell. 

“ My friends,” continued Hatteras in a tone almost of entreaty, 
“vou are despairing too soon! I should propose to seek safety to 


the north, were it not that you would refuse to follow me. And 


yet are there not Esquimaux near the Pole, as well as at Smith’s 
Sound? That open sea, of which the existence is uncertain, ought 
to surround a continent. Nature is logical in everything it does. 
Well, we ought to believe that vegetation appears when the 
greatest cold ceases. Is there not a promised land awaiting us at 
the north, and which you want to fly from without hope of 
return ?” 

Hatteras warmed as he spoke; his heated imagination called 
up enchanting visions of these countries, whose existence was 
still so problematical. 

“One more day,” he repeated, ‘a single hour!” 

Dr. Clawbonny, with his adventurous character and his glow- 
ing imagination, felt himself gradually aroused ; he was about to 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 1d 


yield ; but Johnson, wiser and colder, recalled him to reason and 
duty. 

“Come, Bell,” he said, “ to the sledge!” 

“Come along!” answered Bell. 

The two sailors turned towards the door of the snow-house. 

“Q Johnson! you! you!” shouted Hatteras. ‘Well, go! I 
shall stay !” 

“Captain !” said Johnson, stopping in spite of himself. 

cal shall stay, I say! Go! leave me like the rest! Go!— 
Come, Duke, we two shall stay !” 

The brave dog joined his master, barking. Johnson looked at 
the doctor. He did not know what to do; the best plan was to 
calm Hatteras, and to sacrifice a day to his fancies. The doctor 
was about making up his mind to this effect, when he felt some 
one touch his arm. 

He turned round. The American had just left the place where 
he had been lying ; he was crawling on the floor; at last he rose 
to his knees, and from his swollen lips a few inarticulate sounds 
issued. 

The doctor, astonished, almost frightened, gazed at him silently. 
Hatteras approached the American, and examined him closely. 
He tried to make out the words which the poor fellow could not 
pronounce. At last, after trying for five minutes, he managed to 
utter this word :— 

“ Porpotse.” 

“The Porpoise ?” asked the captain. 

The American bowed affirmatively. 

“Tn these seas?” asked Hatteras with beating heart. 

The same sign from the sick man. 

“To the north?” 

Yes,” 

“ And you know where it lies?” 

Yes.” 

“ Exactly ?” 

There was a moment’s silence. The bystanders were all ex- 
cited, 

“ Now, listen carefully,” said Hatteras to the sick man; “we 


Th 


i 4 re xia : Baie lc 
16 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. : 


must know where this ship lies. I am going to count the degrees 
aloud ; you will stop me by a sign.” 
The American bowed his head to show that he understood. 
“‘Come,” said Hatteras, “we “ll begin with the longitude. One 
hundred and five? No.— Hundred and six? Hundred and 
seven? Hundred and eight? Far to the west?” 
“Yes,” said the American. 
; “Tet us goon. Hundred and nine? Ten? Eleven? Twelve? 
Fourteen? Sixteen? Eighteen? Nineteen? Twenty?” 

“Yes,” answered Altamont. 

« Longitude one hundred and twenty?” said Hatteras. ‘“ And 
how many minutes? I shall count.” 
iy Hatteras began at number one. At fifteen Altamont made a 
sign for him to stop. ; 
: “All right!” said Hatteras. “Now for the latitude. You 
understand? Eighty? Eighty-one? Eighty-two? Eighty-three?” 

The American stopped him with a gesture. 

“Well! And the minutes? Five? Ten? Fifteen? Twenty? 
Twenty-five? Thirty? Thirty-five?” 

Another sign from Altamont, who smiled slightly. 

“So,” continued Hatteras, in a deep voice, “the Porpoise lies 
in longitude 120° 15’, and 83° 35’ latitude?” 

“Yes!” said the American, as he fell fainting into the doctor’s 
arms. This exertion had exhausted him. 

“My friends,” cried Hatteras, “you see that safety lies to the 
north, always to the north! We shall be saved!” 

But after these first words of joy, Hatteras seemed suddenly 
struck by a terrible thought. His expression changed, and he 
felt himself stung by the serpent of jealousy. 

Some one else, an American, had got three degrees nearer the 
Pole! And for what purpose ? 























































































































“Yes!” 








































































































said the American 


»” 

































































— Page 16. 























































































































































































































THE DESERT OF ICE. 17 


Cera he TT 
SEVENTEEN DAYS OF LAND JOURNEY. 


THis new incident, these first words which Altamont uttered, 
had completely altered the situation of the castaways ; but just 
now they had been far from any possible aid, without a reason- 
able chance of reaching Baffin’s Bay, threatened with starvation 
on a journey too long for their wearied bodies, and now, within 
four hundred miles from their snow-house, there was a ship which 
offered them bounteous supplies, and perhaps the means of con- 
tinuing their bold course to the Pole. Hatteras, the doctor, 
Johnson, and Bell, all began to take heart after having been so 
near despair; they were nearly wild with joy. 

But Altamont’s account was still incomplete, and, after a few 
moments’ repose, the doctor resumed his talk with him; he 
framed his questions in such a way that a simple sign of the head 
or a motion of the eyes would suffice for an answer. 

Soon he made out that the Porpoise was an American bark 
from New York, that it had been caught in the ice with, a large 
supply of food and fuel ; and, although she lay on her beam-ends, 
she must have withstood the ice, and it would be possible to save 
her cargo. 

Two months before, Altamont and the crew had abandoned her, 
carrying the launch upon a sledge ; they wanted to get to Smith’s 
Sound, find a whaling-vessel, and be carried in her to America ; 
but gradually fatigue and disease had fallen upon them, and they 
fell aside on the way. At last only the captain and two sailors 
were left of a crew of thirty men, and Altamont’s life was the 
result of what was really a miracle. 

Hatteras wanted to find out from the American what he was 
doing in these high latitudes. 

Altamont managed to make him understand that he had been 
caught in the ice and carried by it without possibility of resisting it. 


4 


18 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


Hatteras asked him anxiously for what purpose he was sailing. 

Altamont gave them to understand that he had been trying 
the Northwest Passage. 

Hatteras did not persist, and asked no other question of the sort. 

The doctor then began to speak. 

“ Now,” he said, “all our efforts should be directed to finding 
the Porpoise ; instead of struggling to Baflin’s Bay, we may, by 
means of a journey only two thirds as long, reach a ship which 
will offer us all the resources necessary for wintering.” 

“There ’s nothing more to be done,” said Bell. 

“T should add,” said the boatswain, “that we should not lose 
a moment; we should calculate the length of our journey by the 
amount of our supplies, instead of the other and usual way, and 
be off as soon as possible.” 

“You are right, Johnson,” said the doctor; “if we leave to- 
morrow, Tuesday, February 26th, we ought to reach the Porpovse 
March 15th, at the risk of starving to death. What do you 
think of that, Hatteras?” 

“Let us make our preparations at once,” said the captain, 
“and be off. Perhaps we shall find the way longer than we 
suppose.” 

“Why so?” asked the doctor. ‘This man seemed certain of 
the situation of his ship.” 

“ But,” answered Hatteras, “supposing the Porpoise has been 
drifting as the Forward did?” 

“True,” said the doctor, “that’s not unlikely.” 

Johnson and Bell had nothing to urge against the possibility 
of a drift of which they had themselves been victims. 

But Altamont, who was listening to the conversation, gave the 
doctor to understand that he wished to speak. After an effort of 
about a quarter of an hour, Clawbonny made out that the Por- 
poise was lying on a bed of rocks, and so could not have drifted 
away. This information calmed the anxiety of the Englishmen ; 
still it deprived them of their hope of returning to Europe, unless 
Bell should be able to build a small boat out of the timbers of the 
Porpoise. However that might-be, it was now of the utmost im- 
portance that they should reach the wreck. 








+ Mh SO . 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 19 





The doctor put one more question to the American, namely, 
whether he had found an open sea at latitude 83°. 

“No,” answered Altamont. 

There the conversation stopped. They began at once to pre- 
pare for departure ; Bell and Johnson first began to sce about the 
sledge, which needed complete repairing. Since they had plenty 
of wood, they made the uprights stronger, availing themselves of 

‘the experience of their southern trip. They had learned the 
dangers of this mode of transport, and since they expected to find 
plenty of deep snow, the runners were made higher. 

On the inside Bell made a sort of bed, covered with the canvas 
of the tent, for the American ; the provisions, which were unfortu- 
nately scanty, would not materially augment the weight of the 
sledge, but still they made up for that by loading it with all the 
wood it could carry. 

The doctor, as he packed all the provisions, made out a very 
careful list of their amount; he calculated that each man could 
have three quarters of a ration for a journey of three weeks. A 
whole ration was set aside for the four dogs which should draw 
it. If Duke aided them, he was to have a whole ration. 

These preparations were interrupted by the need of sleep and 
rest, which they felt at seven o’clock in the evening; but before 
going to bea they 
gathered around the 
stove, which was 
well filled with fuel, 
and these poor men 
luxuriated in more 
warmth than they 
had enjoyed for a 
long time; some 
pemmican, a few 
biscuits, and sey- 
eral cups of coffee soon put them in good-humor, especially when 
their hopes had been so unexpectedly lighted up. At seven in 
the morning they resumed work, and finished it at three in the 









































































































































































































































































































































afternoon. It was already growing dark. Since January 3!st_ 


we 


we A 
4's , 


open 








— 


90 THA ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


the sun had appeared above the horizon, but it gave only a pale 
and brief light; fortunately the moon would rise at half past 
six, and with this clear sky it would make their path plain. The 
temperature, which had been growing lower for several days, fell 
at last to —33°. ; 

The time for leaving came. Altamont received the order with 
joy, although the jolting of the sledge would increase his suffer- 
ings; he told the doctor that medicine against the scurvy would 
be found on board of the Porpoise. He was carried to the sledge 
and plaved there as comfortably as possible ; the dogs, including 
Duke, were harnessed in; the travellers cast one last glance at 
the spot where the /orward had lain. A glow of rage passed 
over Hatteras’s face, but he controlled it at once, and the little 
band set out with the air very dry at first, although soon a mist 
came over them. 

























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Each one took his accustomed place, Bell ahead pointing out 
the way, the doctor and Johnson by the sides of the sledge, 
watching and lending their aid when it was necessary, and Hat- 
teras behind, correcting the line of march. 

They went along tolerably quickly ; now that the temperature — 
was so low, the ice was hard and smooth for travel ; the five dogs — 


See 
Bow 















THE DESERT OF ICE. 21 


_ easily drew the sledge, which weighed hardly more than nine hun- 
dred pounds. Still, men and beasts panted heavily, and often 
they had to stop to take breath. 

Towards seven o'clock in the evening, the moon peered through 
mist on the horizon. Its rays threw out a light which was re- 
flected from the ice; towards the northwest the ice-field looked 
like a perfectly smooth plain; not a hummock was to be seen. 
This part of the sea seemed to have frozen smooth like a lake. 

It was an immense, monotonous desert. 

Such was the impression that this spectacle made on the doc- 
tor’s mind, and he spoke of it to his companion. 

“You are right, Doctor,” answered Johnson; “it is a desert, 
but we need not fear dying of thirst.” 

“A decided advantage,” continued the doctor; “ still, this im- 
mensity proves one thing to me, and that is that we are far dis- 
tant from any land; in general, the proximity of land is indicated 
by a number of icebergs, and not one is to be seen near us.” 

“ We can’t see very far for the fog,” said Johnson. 

“Without doubt; but since we started we have crossed a 
smooth field of which we cannot see the end.” 

“Do you know, Doctor, it’s a dangerous walk we are taking! 
We get used to it and don’t think of it, but we are walking over 
fathomless depths.” 

“You are right, my friend, but we need not fear being swal- 
lowed; with such cold as this the ice is very strong. Besides, it 
has a constant tendency to get thicker, for snow falls nine days 
out of ten, even in April, May, and June, and I fancy it must 
be something like thirty or forty feet thick.” 

“That is a comfort,” said Johnson. 

“In fact, we are very much better off than those who skate on 
the Serpentine, and who are in constant dread of falling through ; 
we have no such fear.” 

“Has the resistance of ice been calculated?” asked the old 
sailor, who was always seeking information from the doctor. 

“Yes,” the latter answered: “everything almost that can be 
measured is now known, except human ambition! and is it not 
that which is carrying us towards the North Pole? But to return 


92 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


a 


to your question, my answer is this. Ice two inches thick will 
bear a man; three and a half inches thick, a horse and rider; 
five inches thick, an eight-pound cannon; eight inches, a fully 
harnessed artillery-piece ; and ten inches, an army, any number_ 
of men! Where we are now, the Liverpool Custom House or the 
Halls of Parliament in London could be built.” 

“One can hardly imagine such strength,” said Johnson; “but 
just now, Doctor, you spoke of snow falling nine days out of ten ; 
that is true, but where does all the snow come from? The sea is 
all frozen, and I don’t see how the vapor can rise to form the 
clouds.” 

‘““A very keen observation, Johnson; but, in my opinion, the 
greatest part of the snow or rain which we receive in the polar 
regions is formed from the water of the seas in the temperate 
zones. One flake arose into the air under the form of vapor from 
some river in Europe, it helped make a cloud, and finally came 
here to be condensed; it is not impossible that we who drink it 
may be quenching our thirst at the rivers of our own country.” 

“That is true,” answered Johnson. 

At that moment Hatteras’s voice was heard directing their 
steps and interrupting their conversation. The fog was growing 
thicker, and making a straight line hard to follow. 

Finally the little band halted at about eight o’clock in the 
evening, after walking nearly fifteen miles; the weather was dry ; 
the tent was raised, the fire lighted, supper cooked, and all rested 
peacefully. 


Hatteras and his companions were really favored by the 


weather. The following days brought no new difficulties, 
although the,cold became extremely severe and the mercury 
remained frozen in the thermometer. If the wind had risen, no 
one could have withstood the temperature. The doctor was able 
to corroborate Parry’s observations, which he made during his 
journey to Melville Island; he said that a man comfortably 
dressed could walk safely in the open air exposed to great cold, 
if the air were only calm; but as soon as the slightest wind 
arose, a sharp pain was felt in the face, and an extreme head- 
ache which is soon followed by death. The doctor was very 





> 
a 


Pa 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 23 





anxious, for a slight wind would have frozen the marrow in their 
bones. 

March 5th he observed a phenomenon peculiar to these lati- 
tudes: the sky was clear and thick with stars, and thick snow 
began to fall without any cloud being visible; the constellations 
shone through the flakes which fell regularly on the ice-tield. 
This went on for about two hours, and stopped before the doctor 
had found a satisfactory explanation of its fall. 

The last quarter of the moon had then disappeared; total 
darkness reigned for seventeen hours out of the twenty-four; the 
travellers had to tie themselves together by a long cord, to avoid 
being separated; it was almost impossible for them to go in a 
straight line. 

Still, these bold men, although animated by an iron will, began 
to grow weary; their halts were more frequent, and yet they 
ought not to lose an hour, for their supplies were rapidly dimin- 
ishing. Hatteras would often ascertain their position by observa- 
tion of the moon and stars. As he saw the days pass by and the 
destination appear as remote as before, he would ask himself 
sometimes if the Porpoise really existed, whether the American’s 
brain might not have been deranged by his sufferings, or whether, 
through hate of the English, and seeing himself without resources, 
he did not wish to drag them with him to certain death. — 

He expressed his fears to the doctor, who discouraged them 
greatly, but he readily understood the lamentable rivalry which 
existed between the American and English captains. 

“They are two men whom it will be hard to make agree,” he 
said to himself. 

March 14th, after journeying for sixteen days, they had only 
reached latitude 82°; their strength was exhausted, and they 
were still a hundred miles from the ship; to add to their suffer- 
ings, they had to bring the men down to a quarter-ration, in order 
to give the dogs their full supply. 

They could not depend on their shooting for food, for they had 
left only seven charges of powder and six balls ; they had in vain 
fired at some white hares and foxes, which besides were very rare. 
None had been hit. 


~ 4 al 
§ en 2 Ot ihe 
it” os 


94 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


Nevertheless, on the 18th, the doctor was fortunate enough to 
find a seal lying on the ice; he wounded him with several balls ; 
the animal, not being able to escape through his hole in the ice, 
was soon slain. He was of very good size. Johnson cut him up 
skilfully, but he was so very thin that he was of but little use to 
the men, who could not make up their minds to drink his oil, 
like the Esquimaux. Still the doctor boldly tried to drink the 


slimy fluid, but he could not do it. He preserved the skin of the — 


animal, for no special reason, by a sort of hunter's instinct, and 
placed it on the sledge. 

The next day, the 16th, they saw a few icebergs on the horizon. 
Was it a sign of a neighboring shore, or simply a disturbance of 
the ice? It was hard to say. 

When they had reached one of these hummocks, they dug in it 
with a snow-knife-a more comfortable retreat than that afforded 
by the tent, and after three hours of exertion they were able to 
rest about their glowing stove. 


CHAPTER Rost 
THE LAST CHARGE OF POWDER. 


Jounson had admitted the tired dogs into the snow-house ; 
when the snow is falling heavily it serves as a covering to the 
animals, preserving their natural heat. But in the open air, with 
a temperature of —40°, they would soon have frozen to death. 

Johnson, who made an excellent dog-driver, tried feeding the 
dogs with the dark flesh of the seals which the travellers could 
not swallow, and to his great surprise they made a rich feast out 
of it; the old sailor in his delight told the doctor. He, however, 
was not in the least surprised; he knew that in the north of 
America the horses make fish their main article of food, and what 
a herbivorous horse could content himself with would certainly 
satisfy an omnivorous dog. 

Before going to rest, although sleep became an imperious neces- 


be 
ae 


Re i Se re 
“A ere i: 





































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“The doctor was fortunate enough to find a seal.” — Page 24. 








ie | ae ts i Ds i - t= 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 95 


sity for men who had walked fifteen miles on the ice, the doctor 
wished to have a few serious words with his companions about 
the dangers of their situation. 

“We are only at latitude 82°,” he said, “and our supplies are 
already running short.” 

“A reason for losing no time,” answered Hatteras; ‘we must 
push cn; the strong can draw the feeble.” 

“‘Shail we find a ship when we get there?” asked Bell, who 
was much depressed by the fatigue of the journey. 

“Why doubt it?” said Johnson; ‘the American’s safety de- 
pends on ours.” ; 

To make sure, the doctor was anxious to question Altamont 
again. He could speak easily, although his voice was weak ; he 
confirmed all the statements he had already made; he repeated 
that the ship was aground on some granite rocks, where it could 
not stir, and that it lay in longitude 120° 15’, and latitude 
83° 35’. 

“We can’t doubt this statement,” resumed the doctor; ‘‘ the 
difficulty is not whether the Porpovse is there, but the way of 
getting to her.” 

“ How much food have we left?” asked Hatteras. 

“Enough for three days at the outside,” answered the doctor. 

“Well, we must get to her in three days,” said the captain, 
firmly. 

“We must indeed,” continued the doctor, “and if we succeed 
we shall have no need to complain, for we shall have been favored 
by faultless weather ; the snow has given us a fortnight’s respite, 
and the sledge has glided easily on the hardened ice! Ah, if it 
only carried two hundred pounds of food! Our dogs could have 
managed it easily enough. But still we can’t help it!” 

“With luck and skill,” said Johnson, “we might put to some 
use the few charges of powder which are left us. If we should 
kill a bear we should be supplied for all the rest of the journey.” 

“Without doubt,” answered the doctor, “but these animals 
are rare and shy; and then, when one thinks of the importance 
of a shot, his hand will shake and his aim be lost.” 

“ But you are a good shot,” answered Bell. 





ae eo. 


9G THE ADVENTURES OF CAPT. 4IN HATTERAS. Bs 


“Yes, when four men’s dinners do not depend on my hitting; 
still, I will do my best if I get a chance. Meanwhile let us try — 
to satisfy ourselves with this thin soup of scraps of pemmican, 
then go to sleep, and to-morrow early we'll start forth again.” 


A few moments later excessive fatigue outweighed every other — 


feeling, and they all sank into a heavy sleep. Early on Saturday 


g . e 
Johnson awoke his companions; the dogs were harnessed to the 


sledge, and they took up again their journey northward. 
The heavens were magnificent, the air was very clear, the tem- 
perature very low; when the sun appeared above the horizon it 

















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Ae 
| 












































I 
Hay 
Ht 





i 
lj 






















































































































































































































































































l i) 
































oA 























i} 

































































































































































men 
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































appeared like an elongated ellipse; its horizontal diameter 
appeared, in consequence of refraction, to be double its vertical 
diameter. It sent forth its clear, cold rays over the vast icy 
plain. This return to light, if not to heat, rejoiced them all. 

The doctor, gun in hand, walked off for a mile or two, braving 


the cold and solitude ; before going he measured the supply care- 


fully ; only four charges of powder were left, and three balls; that 


was a small supply when one remembers that a strong animal like 


the polar bear often falls only after receiving ten or twelve shots. 
Hence the doctor did not go in search of so fierce game; a few 


hares or two or three foxes would have satisfied him and given — 


















THE DESERT OF ICE. D7. 


him plenty of provisions. But during that day, if he saw one, or 
cquld not approach one, or if he were deceived by refraction, he 
would lose his shot; and this day, as it was, cost him a charge 
of powder and a ball. His companions, who trembled with hope 
at the report of his gun, saw him returning with downeast looks ; 
they did not say anything; that evening they went to sleep as 
usual, after putting aside two quarter-rations reserved for the two 


following days. The next day their journey seemed more labo- 


rious ; they hardly walked, they rather dragged along; the dogs 
had eaten even the entrails of the seal, and they were beginning 
to gnaw their harness. 

A few foxes passed at some distance from the sledge, and the 
doctor, having missed another shot as he chased them, did not 
dare to risk his last ball and his last charge save one of powder. 

That evening they halted early, unable to set one foot before 
the other, and, although their way was lighted by a brilliant au- 
rora, they could not go on. ‘This last meal, eaten Sunday even- 
ing under their icy tent, was very melancholy. If Heaven did not 
come to their aid, they were lost. Hatteras did not speak, Bell 
did not even think, Johnson reflected in silence, but the doctor 
did not yet despair. 

Johnson thought of setting some traps that night; but since 
he had no bait, he had very little hope of success, and in the 
morning he found, as he expected, that, although a great many 
foxes had left their marks around, yet not one had been caught. 
He was returning much disappointed, when he saw an enormons 
bear sniffing the air at about thirty yards from the sledge. The 
old sailor thought Providence had sent this animal to him to be 
slain; without awakening his companions he seized the doctor's 
gun and made his way towards the bear. 

Having got quite near he took aim, but just as he was about 
to pull the trigger he felt his arm trembling; his large fur 
gloves were in his way ; he took them off quickly, and seized his 
gun with a firmer hand. Suddenly, a cry of pain escaped him; 
the skin of his fingers, burned by the cold of the gun-barrel, 
remained clinging to it, while the gun fell to the ground, and 
went off from the shock, sending the last ball off into space. At 


oo ty & 





28 


the sound of the report the doctor ran; he understood every- 


thing at a glance ; he saw the animal trot quickly away ; Johnson 


was in despair, and thought no more of the pain. 

“T’m as tender as a baby,” he cried, “not to be able to 
endure that pain! And an old man like me!” 

“* Come back, 
Johnson,” the doc- 
tor said to him, 
“you ‘ll get frozen ; 
see, your hands are 
white already ; come 
back, come!” 

“JT don't. -.de- 
serve your atten- 
tions, Doctor,” an- 
swered the _ boat- 
swain; “leave me!” 

“Come along, you obstinate fellow! Come along! It will 
soon be too late!” 

And the doctor, dragging the old sailor under the tent, made 
him plunge his hands into a bowl of water, which the heat of the 
stove had kept liquid, although it was not much above the freez- 
ing-point ; but Johnson’s hands had no sooner touched it than it 
froze at once, 

“You see,” said the doctor, “it was time to come back, other- 
wise | should have had to amputate your hands.” 







































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Thanks to his cares, all danger was gone in an hour; but it was 
-no easy task, and constant friction was necessary to recall the 
circulation into the old sailor’s fingers. The doctor urged him to 
keep his hands away from the stove, the heat of which might 
produce serious results. 


That morning they had to go without breakfast ; of the pem-_ 


mican and the salt meat nothing was left. There was not a 
crumb of biscuit, and only half a pound of coffee. They had to 
content themselves with drinking this hot, and then they set out. 

“There ’s nothing more!” said Bell to Johnson, in a despairing 
accent. 








0 ie So ees 
































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“ At the end of iwo hours they fell exhausted.’? — Page zg, 








THE DESERT OF ICE. 29 


~ 

“Tet us trust in God,” said the old sailor; “he is able to pre- 
serve us!” 

_ “This Captain Hatteras!” continued Bell; “he was able to 
return from his first expeditions, but he'll never get back from 
this one, and we shall never see home again!” 

“Courage, Bell! I confess that the captain is almost fool- 
hardy, but there is with him a very ingenious man.” 

“Dr. Clawbonny ?” said Bell. 

“Yes,” answered Johnson. 

“What can he do in such circumstances?” retorted Bell, shrug- 
ging his shoulders. ‘Can he change these pieces of ice into 
pieces of meat? Is he a god, who can work by miracles?” 

“Who can say?” the boatswain answered his companion’s 
doubts; “I trust in him.” 

Bell shook his head, and fell into a silent apathy, in which he 
even ceased to think. 

That day they made hardly three miles; at evening they had 
nothing to eat; the dogs threatened to devour one another ; the 
men suffered extremely from hunger. Nota single animal was 
to be seen. If there had been one, of what use would it have 
been? They could not go hunting with a knife. Only Johnson 
thought he recognized a mile to leeward the large bear, who was 
following the ill-fated little party. 

“Tt is spying us!” he said to himself; “it sees a certain prey 
in us!” 

But Johnson said no word to his companions; that evening 
they made their accustomed halt, and their supper consisted only 
of coffee. They felt their eyes growing haggard, their brain grow- 
ing confused, and, tortured by hunger, they could not get an 
hour’s sleep ; strange and painful dreams took possession of their 
minds. 

At a latitude in which the body imperiously demands refresh- 
ment, these poor men had not eaten solid food for thirty-six 
hours, when Tuesday morning came. Nevertheless, inspired by 
superhuman energy, they resumed their journey, pushing on the 
sledge which the dogs were unable to draw. At the end of two 
hours epey fell, exhausted. Hatteras wanted to push on. He, 


ed 4 
fan™ 
ita sm - > a4 







pa ge | 


80 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HAT TERAS. 


still strong, besought his companions to rise, but they were ab- 


solutely unable. Then, with Johnson’s assistance, he built a 


resting-place in an iceberg. It seemed as if they were digging 
their own graves. 

“T am willing to 
die of hunger,” said 
Hatteras, “but not 
of cold.” 

After much weari- 
ness the house was 
ready, and they all 
entered it. 

So that day 
passed. In that 
evening, while his 
companions lay inert, Johnson had a sort of hallucination; he 
dreamed of an immense bear. That word, which he kept re- 
peating, attracted the doctor’s attention, so that he shook himself 
free from his stupor, and asked the old sailor why he kept talking 
about a bear, and what bear he meant. 





mR 


: 





i) 









































“The bear which is following us,” answered Johnson. 

“The bear which is following us?” repeated the doctor. 

“Yes, the last two days.” 

“The last two days! Have you seen him?” 

“Yes, he’s a mile to leeward.” 

“And you did n’t tell us, Johnson ?” 

“What was the use?” 

“True,” said the doctor; ‘we have no ball to fire at him.” 

“Not a slug, a bit of iron, nor a bolt !” said the old sailor. 

The doctor was silent, and began to think intently. Soon he 
said to the boatswain, — 

“You are sure the bear is following us?” 

“Yes, Doctor, he’s lying in wait to eat us. He knows we can’t 
escape him!” 

“‘ Johnson!” said the doctor, touched by the despairing accent 
of his companion. 

‘“‘His food is sure,” continued the poor man, who was begin- 


tz 
: ng 
4 tS 
~ a 8 Lee he 





THE DESERT OF ICE. oil 


ning to be delirious ; “he must be half famished, and I dou't see 
why we need keep him waiting any longer !” 

“Be quiet, Johnson !” 

“No, Doctor; if we’ve got to come to it, why should we pro- 
long the animal’s sufferings? He ’s hungry as we are ; he has no 
seal to eat! Heaven sends him us men; well, so much the better 
for him !” 

Thereupon Johnson went out of his mind ; he wanted to leave 
the snow-house. The doctor had hard work to prevent him, and 
he only succeeded by saying, as if he meant it, — 

“To-morrow I shall kill that bear!” 

“To-morrow!” said Johnson, as if he had awakened from a bad 
dream. 

“Yes, to-morrow.” 

“You have no ball!” 

“JT shall make one.” 

“You have no lead!” 

“No, but I have some quicksilver.” 

Thereupon the doctor took the thermometer ; it marked +-50°. 
He went outside, placed the instrument on the ice, and soon re- 
turned. The outside temperature was —50°. Then he said to 
the old sailor, — 

* Now go to sleep, and wait till to-morrow.” 

That night they endured the horrors of hunger; only the 
doctor and the boatswain were able to temper them with a little 
hope. The next morning, at dawn, the doctor rushed out, fol- 
lowed by Johnson, and ran to the thermometer ; all the mercury 
had sunk into the bulb, in the form of a compact cylinder. The 
doctor broke the instrument, and seized in his gloved fingers a 
piece of very hard metal. It was a real bullet. 

“ Ah, Doctor,” shouted the old sailor, “that’s a real miracle! 
You are a wonderful man !” 

“No, my friend,” answered the doctor, “I am only a man with 
a good memory, who has read a good deal.” 

; “Why, what do you mean?” 
-“T happened to remember something Captain Ross related in 
the account of his voyage: he said he shot through an inch plank 


ee 
a gig 


32 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


with a bullet of frozen mercury; if I had any oil it would amount 
to nearly the same thing, for he speaks of a ball of sweet almond, 
which was fired against a post and fell back to the ground un- 
broken.” 


“That is hardly credible 


1» 


“But it is true, Johnson; this piece of metal may save our. 


lives ; let us leave it here in the air before we take it, and go and 
see whether the bear is still following us.” 

At that moment Hatteras came out of the hut; the doctor 
showed him the bullet, and told him what he thought of doing ; 
the captain pressed his hand, and the three went off to inspect. 
The air was very clear. Hatteras, who was ahead of his com- 
panions, discovered the bear about a half-mile off. The animal, 
seated on his hind quarters, was busily moving his head about, 
sniffing towards these new arrivals. 

“There he is!” shouted the captain. 

“Silence!” said the doctor. 

But the huge beast did not stir when he saw the hunters. He 
gazed at them without fear or anger. Still, it would be found 
hard to approach him, 

“My friends,” said Hatteras, “ we have not come out for sport, 
but to save our lives. Let us act cautiously.” 

“Yes,” answered the doctor; “we can only have one shot, and 
we must not miss; if he were to run away, he would be lost, for 
he can run faster than a hare.” 

“Well, we must go straight for him,” said Johnson; “it is 
dangerous, but what does it matter? I am willing to risk my 
life.” 

“No, let me go!” cried the doctor. 

“ No, I shall go,” answered Hatteras, quietly. 

“But,” said Johnson, “are not you of more use to the others 
than I should be?” 

“No, Johnson,” answered the captain, “Jet me go; I shall 
run no needless risk; perhaps, too, I shall call on you to help 
me.” 

“ Hatteras,” asked the doctor, ‘are you going to walk straight 
towards the bear?” 









- 
- 


tend to do?” 


See. . LED DESERT. OF Ich 33 


“TF T were sure of hitting him, I would do so, even at the risk 
of having my head torn open, but he would flee at my approach. 
He is very crafty ; we must try to be even craftier.” 











* What do you in- 


































































































































































































































































































“To get within 
ten feet of him 
without his suspect- 
ing it.” 

“ How are you go- 
ing to do it?” 

“ By a simple but 
dangerous method. 
You kept, did you 
not, the skin of the seal you shot?” 

“Yes, it is on the sledge.” 

“Well, let us go back to the snow-house, while Johnson stays 
here on watch.” 

The boatswain crept behind a hummock which hid him entirely 
from the sight of the bear, who stayed in the same place, contin- 
ually sniffing the air. 



































































































































































































































































































































CHAP TER. Ves 
THE SEAL AND THE BEAR. 


Harreras and the doctor went back to the house. 

“You know,” said the captain, “that the polar bears chase 
seals, which are their principal food. They watch for days at 
their breathing-holes, and seize them the moment they come upon 
the ice. So a bear will not be afraid of a seal; far from it.” 

“T understand your plan,” said the doctor, “but it’s dan- 
gerous.” 

“But there is a chance of success,” answered the captain, 
“and we must try it. I am going to put on the sealskin and 


SESE 


¥ 


: ee pe tes 
34 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 





crawl over the ice. Let us lose no time. Load the gun and give 
it to, me.” : 

The doctor had nothing to say ; he would himself have done 
what his companion was about to try ; he left the house, carrymg 
two axes, one for Johnson, the other for himself; then, accompa- 
nied by Hatteras, he went to the sledge. 

There Hatteras put on the sealskin, which very nearly covered 
him. Meanwhile, Hatteras loaded the gun with the last charge 
of powder, and dropped in it the quicksilver bullet, which was as 
hard as steel and as heavy as lead. Then he handed Hatteras 
the gun, which he hid beneath the sealskin. Then he said to 
the doctor, — 

“You go and join Johnson ; I shall wait a few moments to puz- 
zle the enemy.” 

“Courage, Hatteras!” said the doctor. 

“Don’t be uneasy, and above all don’t show yourselves before 
you hear my gun.” 

The doctor soon reached the hummock which concealed John- 
son. 

“Well?” the latter asked. 

“Well, we must wait. Hatteras is doing all this to save us.” 

The doctor was agitated ; he looked at the bear, which had grown 
excited, as if he had become conscious of the danger which threat- 
ened him. A quarter of an hour later the seal was crawling over 
the ice; he made a circuit of a quarter of a mile to baffle the 
bear; then he found himself within three hundred feet of him. 
The bear then saw him, and settled down as if he were trying to 
hide. Hatteras imitated skilfully the movements of a seal, and 
if he had not known, the doctor would certainly have taken him 
for one. : 

“That ’s true!” whispered Johnson. 

The seal, as he approached the bear, did not appear to see him ; 
he seemed to be seeking some hole through which to reach the 
water. The bear advanced towards him over the ice with the 
utmost caution; his eager eyes betrayed his excitement ; for one 
or perhaps two months he had been fasting, and fortune was now 
throwing a sure prey before him. The seal had come within ten 



















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“He plunged his knife into the beast’s throat.’’ — Page 35 











— = 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 35 


feet of his enemy: the bear hastened towards him, made a long 
leap, and stood stupefied three paces from Hatteras, who, casting 
aside the sealskin, with one knee resting on the ground, was aim- 
ing at the bear’s heart. 

The report was sounded, and the bear rolled over on the ice. 

“Forward!” shouted the doctor. And, followed by Johnson, 
he hastened to the scene of combat. The huge beast rose, and 
beat the air with one paw while with the other he tore up a 
handful of snow to stanch the wound. Hatteras did not stir, but 
waited, knife in hand. But his aim had been accurate, and his 
bullet had hit its mark ; before the arrival of his friends he had 
plunged his knife into the beast’s throat, and it fell, never to rise. 

“Victory !” shouted Johnson. 

“Hurrah! hurrah! hurrah!” cried the doctor. 

Hatteras, with folded arms, was gazing calmly at the corpse of 
his foe. 

“Jt’s now my turn,” said Johnson; “it’s very well to have 
killed it, but there is no need of waiting till it’s frozen as hard as 
a stone, when teeth and knife will be useless for attacking it.” 

Johnson began by skinning the bear, which was nearly as large 
as an ox; it was nine feet long and six feet in circumference ; 
two huge tusks, three inches long, issued from his mouth. On 
opening him, nothing was found in his stomach but water; the 
bear had evidently eaten nothing for a long time; nevertheless, 
he was very fat, and he weighed more than fifteen hundred 
pounds; he was divided into four quarters, each one of which 
gaye two hundred pounds of meat, and the hunters carried this 
flesh back to the snow-house, without forgetting the animal’s 
heart, which went on beating for three hours. 

The others wanted to eat the meat raw, but the doctor bade 
them wait until it should be roasted. On entering the house he 
was struck by the great cold within it ; he went up to the stove 
and found the fire out ; the occupations as well as the excitement 
of the morning had made Johnson forget his customary duty. 
The doctor tried to rekindle the fire, but there was not even a 
spark lingering amid the cold ashes. 


“Well, we must have patience!” he said to himself. He then 
$ 


36 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


went to the sledge to get some tinder, and asked Johnson for his 
steel, telling him that the fire had gone out. Johnson answered 
that it was his fault, and he put his hand in his pocket, where he 
usually kept it ; he was surprised not to find it there. He felt in 
his other pockets with the same success ; he went into the snow- 
house and examined carefully the covering under which he had 
slept in the previous night, but he could not find it. 

“Well?” shouted the doctor. 

Johnson came back, and stared at his companions. 

“And have n’t you got the steel, Dr. Clawbonny ?” he asked. 

“ No, Johnson.” 

“ Nor you, Captain ?” 

* No,” answered Hatteras. 

‘You have always carried it,” said the doctor. 

“Well, I haven't got it now—” murmured the old sailor, 
growing pale. 

“Not got it!” shouted the doctor, who could not help trem- 
bling. There was no other steel, and the loss of this might bring 
with it terrible consequences. 

“Hunt again!” said the doctor. 

Johnson ran to the piece of ice behind which he had watched 
the bear, then to the place of combat, where he had cut him up; 
but he could not find anything. He returned in despair, Hat- 
teras looked at him without a word of reproach. 

‘This is serious,” he said to the doctor. 

“Yes,” the latter answered. 

‘We have not even an instrument, a glass from which we 
might take the lens _to get fire by means of it!” 

“J know it,” answered the doctor; “and that is a great pity, 
because the rays of the sun are strong enough to kindle tinder.” 

“Well,” answered Hatteras, “ we must satisfy our hunger with 
this raw meat ; then we shall resume our march and we shall try 
to reach the ship.” 

“Yes,” said the doctor, buried in reflection ; ‘yes, we could do 
that if we had to. Why not? We might try —” 
“What are you thinking of?” asked Hatteras. 
“ An idea which has just occurred to me —” 





eee eee a ee Se a a oe Ke ee Same , 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 37 


“ An idea,” said Johnson; “one of your ideas! Then we are 
saved !” 

“Tt’s a question,” answered the doctor, “ whether it will suc- 
ceed.” 

“What is your plan?” said Hatteras. 

“ We have no lens ; well, we will make one.” 

“ How?” asked Johnson. 

“With a piece of ice which we shall cut out.” 

“ Why, do you think —” 

“Why not? We want to make the sun’s rays converge to a 
common focus, and ice will do as much good as crystal.” 

Ts it possible ?” asked Johnson. 

“Yes, only I should prefer fresh to salt water; it is more 
transparent, and harder.” 

“But, if I am not mistaken,” said Johnson, pointing to a hum- 
mock a hundred paces distant, ‘that dark green block shows —” 

“You are right; come, my friends; bring your hatchet, John- 
son.” 

The three men went towards the block which, as they sup- 
posed, was formed of fresh water. 

The doctor had a piece, a foot in diameter, cut through, and 
he began to smooth it with the hatchet; then he equalized the 
surface still further with his knife; then he polished it with his 
hand, and he obtained soon a lens as transparent as if it had been 
made of the most magnificent crystal. Then he returned to the 
snow-house, where he took a piece of tinder and began his experi- 
ment. The sun was shining brightly ; the doctor held the lens 
so that the rays should be focused on the tinder, which took fire 
in a few seconds. 

“Hurrah! hurrah!” cried Johnson, who could hardly trust his 
eyes. “O Doctor, Doctor!” 

The old sailor could not restrain his joy; he was coming and 
going like a madman. The doctor had returned to the house; a 
few minutes later the stove was roaring, and soon a delicious odor 
of cooking aroused Bell from his torpor. It may be easily im- 
agined how the feast was enjoyed; still the doctor advised his 
friends to partake in moderation; he set an example, and while 
eating he again began to talk. 





IPs, 


TERAS. 









38 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HAT = 

“To-day is a lucky day,” he said ; “we have food enough for 
our journey. But we mustn’t fall asleep in the delights of 
Capua, and we’d better start out again.” 

“We can’t be more than forty-eight hours from the Porpoise,” 
said Altamont, who could now begin to speak once more. 

‘“T hope,” said the doctor, smiling, ‘that we shall find mate- 
rial for a fire there.” 

“Yes,” said the American. 







































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“For, if my ice lens is good,” continued the doctor, ‘there 
would still be something desired on cloudy days, and there are 
many of them less than four degrees from the Pole.” pers. 

“True!” said Altamont with a sigh, “less than four degrees! 
My ship has gone nearer than any yet has been!” 

“Forward!” said Hatteras, quickly. 

“Forward!” repeated the doctor, gazing uneasily at the two 
captains. ; 

The strength of the travellers soon returned; the dogs had 
eaten freely of the bear’s flesh, and they continued their journey 
northward. During their walk the doctor tried to draw from 
Altamont the object of his expedition, but the American gave 
only evasive answers. ; : 





wy 


Bete Wo Teeter pap 


Ae ee 


-' se 






": 


me 
tas 





THE DESERT OF ICE. 39 


“There are two men to be watched,” he whispered to the boat- 
swain. 

“Yes,” answered Johnson. 

“ Hatteras never says a word to the American, and the Ameri- 
can seems to show very little gratitude. Fortunately I am here.” 

“Dr. Clawbonny,” answered Johnson, “since this Yankee has 
returned to life, I don’t like his face much.” 

“ Kither I’m mistaken,” answered the doctor, “‘or he suspects 
Hatteras’s plans.” 

“Do you think that the stranger has the same plans?” 

“Who can tell?. The Americans are bold; an American may 
well try what an Englishman tries!” 

“You think that Altamont —” 

“T don’t think anything about it,” answered the doctor; “ but 
the situation of this ship on the way to the Pole gives one mate- 
rial for thought.” 

“But Altamont said he had drifted there.” 

“He said so! Yes, but he was smiling in a very strange way.” 

“The devil, Dr. Clawbonny ; it would be unfortunate if there 
should be any rivalry between two such men.” 

“Heaven grant that I may be mistaken, Johnson, for this 
misfortune might produce serious complications, if not some 
catastrophe.” 

“T hope Altamont will not forget that we saved his life.” 

“But isn’t he going to save us? I confess that without us he 
would not be alive ; but what would become of us without hin, 
without his ship, without its resources?” 

“Well, Doctor, you are here, and I hope with your aid all will 
go well.” 

**T hope so, Johnson.” 

The voyage went on without incident ; there was no lack of 
bear’s flesh, and they made copious meals of it ; there was a cer- 
tain good-humor in the little band, thanks to the jests of the 
doctor and his pleasant philosophy ; this worthy man always had 
some scrap of information to give to his companions. His health 


continued good; he had not grown very thin, in spite of his 


fatigues and privations; his friends at Liverpool would have rec- 


™“~ 


40 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


i 


ognized him without difficulty ; especially would they have recog- 
nized his unaltered good-humor. 

During the morning of Saturday the appearance of the plain 
of ice changed materially ; the perturbed fragments, the frequent 
packs, the hummocks, showed that the ice-field was enduring some 
severe pressure ; evidently some unknown continent, some new 
island, might have caused this by narrowing the passes. Blocks 
of fresh water, more frequent and larger, indicated the coast to 
be near. Hence, there was near them a new land, and the doctor 
yearned with a desire to add to the charts of the northern regions. 
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Great is the pleasure of ascertaining the line of these unknown 


coasts, and of tracing it with a pencil ; that was the doctor's aim, 


while that of Hatteras was merely to place his foot upon the 


Pole, and he took pleasure in advance in thinking of the names 
he was going to give to the seas, straits, bays, and slightest prom- 
outories in these new continents; certainly he would not forget 
the names of his companions, his friends, nor her Gracious 
Majesty, nor the royal family; and he foresaw a certain “Cape 
Clawbonny” with great satisfaction. 







sg 
= 


ae 


These thoughts kept him busy all day ; that evening they en- — 2 


Neat OW mr 


eee ee, Se elt eee Pe ne NS 
7 ~ > S ge OG a 





THE DESERT OF ICE. 41 


camped as usual, and each one took his turn at watching near 
these unknown lands. The next day, Sunday, after a heavy 
breakfast of bear's paws, which were very good, the travellers 
pushed on to the north, inclining a little to the west ; the road 
_ grew difficult, but yet they advanced rapidly. Altamont, from 
the top of the sledge, scanned the horizon with feverish attention ; 
+ his companions were the victims of involuntary uneasiness. The 
_last solar observations gave them latitude 83° 35/, and longitude 
120° 15’; that was the place where the American ship was said 
to be lying; the question of life and death was to be solved that 
day. At last, at about half past two in the afternoon, Altamont 
stood straight, stopped the little band by a loud cry, and, point- 
ing with his hand to a white mass, which all the rest had taken 
for an iceberg, he cried with a loud voice, — 
“The Porpoise !” 


CHA PAt Ee R. V.L. 
THE PORPOISE. 


Marcu 24th was Palm Sunday, — that day when the streets 
of the towns and villages of Europe are filled with flowers and 
leaves ; bells are ringing, and the air is filled with rich perfumes. 
But here, in this desolate country, what sadness and silence! The 
wind was keen and bitter; not a leaf of foliage was to be seen! 
But still, this Sunday was a day of rejoicing for our travellers, 
for at last they were about to find the supplies which would save 
them from certain death. They hastened their steps ; the dogs 
drew the sledge briskly, Duke barked joyously, and they all soon 
reached the American ship. The Porpoise was wholly buried 
beneath the snow; there was no sign of mast, yard, or rigging ; 
all had been lost at the time of the shipwreck ; the ship lay on a 
bed of rocks now completely hidden. The Porpovse was careened 
to one side by the violence of the shock, her bottom was torn 
open, so that the ship seemed uninhabitable. This was soon seen 
by the captain, the doctor, and Johnson, after they had entered 


42 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


the vessel ; they had to cut away fifteen feet of ice to get to the 


hatchway ; but to their great joy they saw that the animals, 
many traces of which were to be seen, had spared the supplies. 

“If we have here,” said Johnson, “plenty of food and fuel, 
this hull does not seem inhabitable.” 

‘Well, we must build a snow-house,” answered Hatteras, “and 
make ourselves as comfortable as possible on the mainland.” 

“Without doubt,” continued the doctor; “but don’t let us 
hurry ; let us do things carefully ; if need be we can fit out some 
quarters in the ship; meanwhile we can build a strong house, 
capable of protecting us against the cold and wild beasts. I am 
willing to be the architect, and you ’ll see what I can do.” 

“¥ don’t doubt your skill, Doctor,” answered Johnson ; “we ‘Il 
make ourselves as comfortable as possible here, and we ‘ll make 
an inventory of all that the ship contains; unfortunately, I don’t: 
see any launch, or boat, and these ruins are in too bad a state to 
permit of our making a small boat.” 

“Who can say?” answered the doctor. ‘ With time and thought 
a great deal can be done; now we have not to trouble ourselves 
about navigation, but about a house to live in; I propose not to 
form any other plans, and to let everything have its turn.” 

“That is wise,’ answered Hatteras; ‘“‘let us begin with the 
beginning.” 

The three companions left the ship, returned to the sledge, and 
announced their determination to Bell and the American; Bell 
said he was ready to work ; the American shook his head, on 
learning that nothing could be done with his ship; but since all 
discussion would have been idle, they determined at first to take 
refuge in the Porporse, and to build a large building on the 
shore. 

At four o’clock in the afternoon the five travellers were in- 
stalled as comfortably as possible between decks ; by means of 
spars and fragments of masts, Bell had made a nearly level floor ; 
there they placed coverings stiffened by the frost, which the heat 
of the stove soon brought back to their natural state ; Altamont, 
leaning on the doctor, was able to make his way to the corner 


which had been set aside for him ; on setting foot on his ship, he — 


eee x7 


dogs 






dec x 
: hs Va Pobeh ih 
DET SOT faa oe eee ree eee er 


























** These castaways looked at themselves as colonists who had reached their 


destination.” — Page 43. 





a. os oe —_—- * 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 43 





; had sighed with a feeling of relief, which did not encourage the 
- _ boatswain. 

“He feels at home,” the old sailor thought, ‘‘and one would 
say that he had invited us here.” 

The rest of the day was devoted to repose ; the weather threat- 
ened to change under the influence of the westerly winds; the 
thermometer outside stood at —26°. In fact, the Porpoise lay 
beyond the pole of cold, at a latitude relatively less severe, 
though farther to the north. On that day they finished the bear, 
with some biscuits they found on the ship, and a few cups of tea; 
then fatigue overcame them, and each one sank into a sound 
sleep. 

The next morning they all awoke rather late ; they soon re- 
called the difference in their situation ; they were no longer per- 
plexed with uncertainty about the morrow; they only thought 
of establishing themselves comfortably. These castaways looked 
at themselves as colonists who had reached their destination, and, 
forgetting the sufferings of their long march, they had no other 
thought than that of securing a comfortable future. 

“Well,” said the doctor, stretching his arms, “it’s something 
not to have to wonder where one will sleep to-night and what one 
will have to eat to-morrow.” 

“Let us first make an inventory of the ship,” answered 
Johnson. 

The Porpoise had been carefully equipped for a long voyage. 

The inventory, when complete, indicated the fo,lowing sup- 
plies : — 

6,150 Ibs. of flour, fat and raisins for puddings ; 
2,000 “ “ beef and salt pork ; 
1,500 “ “ pemmican ; 
fue“ .sucar. 
: 700 “ chocolate ; 
gue * rice: 
14 chests of tea, weighing 87 lbs ; 
many barrels of canned fruits and vegetables, lime-juice in abun- 
dance, cochlearia, sorrel and water-cresses, and three hundred gal- 
lons of rum and brandy ; in the hold there was a large supply 


44 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


of ammunition ; there was plenty of coal and wood. The doctor 
collected carefully the nautical instruments, and he also found a 
Bunsen’s Pile, which had been carried for electrical tests and 
experiments. In short, they had supplies enough to keep five 
men on whole rations for two years ; all fear of starving or freez- 
ing to death was hence wholly removed. 

“Our means of living are certain,” said the doctor to the 
captain, “and there is nothing to prevent our reaching the 
Pole?’ 

“The Pole!” answered Hatteras, trembling with excitement. 

“‘ Certainly,” continued the doctor; ‘“what’s to prevent our 
pushing on during the summer across the land?” 

“ Across the land! true! But how about the sea?” 

“Can’t we build a small boat out of the timber of the Por- 
poise 2” 

“An American boat, you mean,” answered Hatteras, scorn- 
fully, “(and commanded by this American i 

The doctor understood the captain’s repugnance, and judged it 
best to change the conversation. 

“Now that we know what our supplies are,” he went on, “ we 
must build some safe place for them, and a house for ourselves. 
We have plenty of material, and we can settle ourselves very 
comfortably. I hope, Bell,” he added, turning to the carpcnter, 
“that you are going to distinguish yourself; I may be able to 
help you too, I trust.” 

“T’m ready, Doctor,” answered Bell; “if it were necessary I 
could easily build a whole city with houses and streets out of 
these blocks of ice —” 

‘We sha’ n’t need as much as that ; let us follow the example 
of the agents of the Hudson’s Bay Company ; they build forts 
which protect them from the wild beasts and the Indians ; that 
is all we need; let us make it no larger than necessary ; om one 
oon the other the stores, with a sort of curtain, 


oD) 


side the dwellin 


and two bastions. Ill try to rub up what I know about forti- 


fication.” 
“Upon my word, Doctor,” said Johnson, “T don’t doubt that 
we shall make something very fine under your direction.” 











oe EUS Ge sal Sie ana ei 
2 \ ae 

> 4 : 

jase ¥ 


oe. oe fee oes 
re 5 : 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 45 


“Well, my friends, we must first choose a site ; a good engineer 
should first study the lay of the land. Will you come with me, 
Hatteras ?” 

“T shall trust to you, Doctor,” answered the captain. ‘ You 
see about that, while I explore the coast.” 

Altamont, who was still too feeble to get to work, was left on 
board of his ship, and the two Englishmen set foot on the main- 
land. The weather was thick and stormy; at noon the thermom- 
eter stood at —11°, but, there being no wind, that temperature 
was comfortable. Judging from the outline of the shore, a large 
sea, at that time wholly frozen, stretched out farther than eye 
could reach in the west ; on the east it was limited by a rounded 
coast, cut into by numerous estuaries, and rising suddenly about 
two hundred yards from the shore ; it formed a large bay, full of 
dangerous rocks, on which the Porpotse had been wrecked ; far 
off on the land rose a mountain, which the doctor conjectured to 
be about three thousand feet high. Towards the north a prom- 
ontory ran into the sea, after hiding a part of the bay. An island 
of moderate size rose from the field of ice, three miles from the 
mainland, so. that it offered a safe anchorage to any ship that 
could enter the bay. In a hollow cut of the shore was a little 
inlet, easily reached by ships, if this part of the arctic seas was 
ever open. Yet, according to the accounts of Beecher and Penny, 
this whole sea was open in the summer months. 

In the middle of the coast the doctor noticed a sort of plateau 
about two hundred feet in diameter ; on three sides it was open 
to the bay ; the fourth was enclosed by an elevation about a hun- 
dred and twenty feet high; this could be ascended ouly by steps 
cut in the ice. This seemed a proper place for a solid building, 
and it could be easily fortified ; nature had adapted it for the 
purpose ; it was only necessary to make use of the place. The 
doctor, Bell, and Johnson reached this place by means of steps 
cut in the ice. As goon as the doctor saw the excellence of the 
place, he determined to dig away the ten feet of hardened snow 
which covered it; the buildings had to be built on a solid 
foundation. 

During Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday, work went on with- 


46 TILE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


out relaxation; at last the ground appeared ; it consisted of a : 
hard, dense granite, with the angles as sharp as glass; it con- 


tained, moreover, garnets and large crystals of feldspar, against 
which the pickaxe struck fire. 

The doctor then gave them the dimensions and plan of the 
snow-house ; it was to be forty feet long, twenty broad, and ten 
deep ; it was divided 
into three rooms, a 
sitting-room, a bed- 
room, and a kitchen ; 























































































































































































































































































































ed. To the left was 
the kitchen, to the 
right the bedroom, 
in the middle the 
sitting-room., For 
fivedaysthey worked 
busily. There was 
no lack of material ; 
the ice walls were 
thick enough to re- 


could not risk being 
wholly without pro- 
tection, even in sum- 
mer. In proportion 
as the house rose, it 
became agreeable to 
see; there were four front windows, two in the sitting-room, 
one in the kitchen, another in the bedroom ; for panes of glass 





they substituted large sheets of ice, in the Esquimaux fashion, 
which served as well as unpolished glass for the passage of light. 
In front of the sitting-room, between two windows, there ran a 
long entry like a tunnel, which gave admission to the house; a 
solid door, brought from the Porpoise, closed it hermetically. 
When the house was finished, the doctor was delighted with his 
handiwork ; it would have been impossible to say to what school 


more was not need-_ 


sist thawing, for they — 












THE DESERT OF ICE. 7 47 


of architecture the building belonged, although the architect 


would have avowed his preferences for the Saxon Gothic, so 
common in England ; but the main point was, that it should be 
solid; therefore the 
doctor placed on the 
front short uprights ; 
on top a sloping roof 
rested against the 
granite wall. This 
served to support the 
stove - pipes, which 
carried the smoke 
away. When the task 
was completed, they 
began to arrange the interior. They carried into the bedroom the 
sleeping-accommodations from the Porpotse; they were arranged 
in a circle about a large stove. Benches, chairs, sofas, tables, 
wardrobes, were ar- 

itaa Weare we" ranged in the sitting- 


room, which was also 





used asa dining-room ; 
the kitchen received 
the cooking-stoves of 
the ship, and the va- 
rious utensils. Sails, 
stretched on the floor, 
formed the carpet, and 





also served as hang- 
ings to the inner 
doors, which had no other way of closing. The walls of the house 
averaged five feet in thickness, and the recesses for the windows 
looked like embrasures in a fort. It was all built with great 
solidity ; what more was to be desired? Ah, if they had listened 
to the doctor, there is no knowing what they would not have 
made of this ice and snow, which can be so easily manipulated ! 
He all day long would ponder over plans which he never hoped 
to bring about, but he thereby lightened the dull work of all by 


me » 
ay, 


48 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


the ingenuity of his suggestions. Besides, he had come across, 
in his wide reading, a rather rare book by one Kraft, entitled 
“Detailed Description of the Snow-Palace built at St. Peters- 
burg, in January, 1740, and of all the Objects it contained.” The 
recollection of this book impressed him. One evening he gave 
his companions a full account of the wonders of that snow-palace. 

“Why could n’t we do here,” he asked, “ what they did at 
St. Petersburg? What do we need? Nothing, not even im- 
agination ! ” 

““So it was very handsome ?” said Johnson. 

“Tt was fairy-like, my friend. The house, built by order of the 
Empress Anna, and in which she had celebrated the marriage of 
ove of her buffoons in 1740, was nearly as large as ours ; but in 
front ‘stood six cannons of ice; they were often fired without 
bursting ; there were also mortars to hold sixty-pound shells ; so 
we could have some formidable artillery ; the bronze is handy, and 
falls even from heaven. But the triumph of taste and art was on 
the front of the palace, which was adorned with handsome stat- 
ues; the steps were garnished with vases of flowers of the same 
material ; on the right stood an enormous elephant, who played 
water through his trunk by day, and burning naphtha by night. 
What a menagerie we might have if we only wanted to!” 

‘As for animals,” answered Johnson, “ we sha’ n’t lack them, I 
fancy, and they won’t be any the less interesting for not being 
made of ice.” 

“Well,” said the doctor, ‘we shall be able to defend ourselves 
against their attacks ; but to return to the palace, I should add 
that inside there were mirrors, candelabra, beds, mattresses, pil- 
lows, curtains, clocks, chairs, playing-cards, wardrobes well fur- 
nished, and all cut ont of ice; in fact, nothing was lacking.” 

“Tt was then a true palace?” said Bell. 

“A splendid palace, worthy of a sovereign! Ice! It was kind 
of Providence to invent it, since it lends itself to so many mira- 
cles and accommodates so readily to the needs of castaways !” 

It took them until March 31st to get the house ready; this 
was Easter Sunday, and the day was set aside for rest ; the whole 
day was spent in the sitting-room, where divine service was read, 



























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































ome 
Ar” “in 
Hib Way 
Ml 
il Ml ih 
‘S Wt 


} i 
b i 


4 ; a ie 
NS AR 
\ a SY 
iH} al \ i\" \ NK, 
WWI M\ \\ \\\ \ 
ane \ . 
| NAN 
AX \ : 
| 


S 
> 
--S 
ES 


7h g Ns . . Ss SS WS Ss 
4 . ca Y Qo EY > Q > we 
SSE N \\ NENG . ee 
SS. 3 ~ . = 
— § RS 
SS 7 S S FES es \ 
SAX SS Ses 


SS S 





The fort was completed. — Page 49. 

























Pedy ty ETE Satay oe OS ua 
ae y i 
; 


E DESERT OF ICE. Bit” 








eas 
~ 


and each was able to judge of the excellent arrangements of the 
~ snow-house. . 
- The next morning they set about building stores and a maga- 
‘gine; this took them about a week, including the time employed _ 
for emptying the Porpoise, which was not done without difficulty, 
for the low temperature did not permit them to work very long. 
At last, April 8th, provisions, food, and supplies were safely shel- 
tered on land; the stores were placed to the north, and the 
powder-house to the south, about sixty feet from the end of the 
house; a sort of deg-kennel was built near the stores ; it was des- 
“4 - tined for the Greenland dogs, and the doctor honored it with the 
title of “Dog-Palace.” Duke partook of the common quarters. 
“Then the doctor passed to the means of defence of the place. 
- Under his direction the plateau was surrounded by a real fortifi- 
cation of ice which secured it against every invasion ; its height 
made a natural protection, and as there was no salient, it was 
equally strong on all sides. The doctor’s system of defence re- 
called strongly the method of Sterne’s Uncle Toby, whose gentle- 
‘ness and good-humor he also shared. He was a pleasant sight 
when he was calculating the inclination of the platform and the 
breadth of the causeway; but this task was so easy with the | 
snow, that he enjoyed it, and he was able to make the wall seven 
feet thick; besides the plateau overlooking the bay, he had to ~ 
build neither counterscarp nor glacis ; the parapet of snow, after . 
following the outlines of the plateau, joined the rock on the other 
side. The work of fortification was finished April 15th. The fort 
was completed, and the doctor seemed very proud of his work. 
In truth, this fortified enclosure could have withstood for a 
long time against a tribe of Esquimaux, if such enemies were met 
under that latitude; but there was no trace of human beings 
there; Hatteras, in making out the outline of the bay, did not 
see any ruins of the huts which are so commonly found in the 
places resorted to by Greenland tribes; the castaways of the 
Forward and the Porpoise appeared to be the first ever to set 
foot on this unknown shore. But if they need not fear men, ani- 
mals were to be dreaded, and the fort, thus defended, would have 
_ to protect the little garrison against their attacks. 


50 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HAT TERAS. 





CEVAcP TE Ne. 
A DISCUSSION ABOUT CHARTS. 


DurinG these preparations for going into winter-quarters, Alta- 
mont had eutirely recovered his health and strength; he was 
even able to aid in unloading the ship. His vigorous constitu- 
tion at last carried the | 
day, and his pallorsoon : 
gave way before the 
vigor of his blood. 

They saw in him a 
sanguine, robust  citi- 
zen of the United 
States, an intelligent, 
energetic man with a 
resolute character, a 
1 bold, hardy American 
, ready for everything ; 
he was originally from 
New York, and had 
been a sailor from in- 
fancy, as he told his 
companions ; his ship, 
the Porpoise, had been 
equipped and sent out 
by a society of wealthy American merchants, at the head of whom 
was the famous Mr. Grinnell. 











There was a certain similarity between his disposition and that 
of Hatteras, but their sympathies were different. This similarity 
did not incline them to become friends ; indeed, it had the oppo-: 
site effect. A close observer would have detected serious discord- 
ances between them; and this, although they were very frank 
with one another. Altamont was less so, however, than Hat- 


= 


Sate ee a = 





THE DESERT OF ICE. my 


teras; with greater ease of manuer, he was less loyal; his open 
character did not inspire as much confidence as did the captain’s 
gloomy temperament. Hatteras would say what he had to say, 


‘and then he held his peace. The other would talk a great deal, 


but say very little. Such was the doctor’s reading of the Ameri- 
can’s character, and he was right in his presentiment of a future 
disagreement, if not hatred, between the captains of the Porpoise 
and the Forward. 

And yet only one could command. To be sure, Hatteras had 
all the right of commanding, by virtue of anterior right and 
superior force. But if one was at the head of his own men, 
the other was on board of his own ship. And that was generally 
felt. Either from policy or instinctively, Altamont was at first 
attracted towards the doctor; it was to him he owed his life, but 
it was sympathy rather than gratitude which moved him, This 
was the invariable effect of Clawbonny’s nature; friends grew 
about him like wheat under the summer sun. Every one has 
heard of people who rise at five o’clock in the morning to make 
enemies ; the doctor could have got up at four without doing it. 
Nevertheless, he resolved to profit by Altamont’s friendship to 
the extent of learning the real reason of his presence in the polar 
seas. But with all his wordiness the American answered without 
auswering, and kept repeating what he had to say about the 
Northwest Passage. The doctor suspected that there was some 
other motive for the expedition, the same, namely, that Hatteras 
suspected. Hence he resolved not to let the two adversaries 
discuss the subject; but he did not always succeed. The sim- 
plest conversations threatened to wander to that point, and any 
word might kindle a blaze of controversy. It happened soon. 
When the house was finished, the doctor resolved to celebrate 
the fact by a splendid feast ; this was a good idea of Clawbonny’s, 
who wanted to introduce in this continent the habits and pleas- 
ures of European life. Bell had just shot some ptarmigans and 
a white rabbit, the first harbinger of spring. This feast took 
place April 14, Low Sunday, on a very pleasant day; the cold 
could not enter the house, and if it had, the roaring stoves would 
have soon conquered it. The dinner was good; the fresh meut 


52 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


made an agreeable variety after the pemmican and salt meat; a 
wonderful pudding, made by the doctor's own hand, was much 
admired ; every one asked for another supply; the head cook 
himself, with an 
apron about his 
waist aud a knife 
hanging by his side, 
would not have dis- 
graced the kitchen 
of the Lord High 
Chancellor of Eng- 
land. At dessert, 
liquors appeared ; 
the American was 
not a_ teetotaler ; 
hence there was no 
reason for his de- 
priving himself of 
a glass of gin or 
brandy ; the other 
guests, who were 
never in any way 
intemperate, could 
permit themselves this infraction of their rule; so, by the doc- 
tor’s command, each one was able to drain a glass at the end 
of the merry meal. When a toast was drunk to the United 
States, Hatteras was simply silent. It was then that the doctor 
brought forward an interesting subject. 

“My friends,” he said, ‘it is not enough that we have crossed 
the waters and ice and have come so far; there isone thing left 
for us to do. Hence I propose that we should give names to 
this hospitable land where we have found safety and rest; that 
is the course pursued by all navigators, and there is not one who 
has neglected it; therefore we ought to carry back with us not 
only a map of the shores, but also the names of the capes, bays, 

points, and promontories which we find. That is absolutely 
_ necessary.” 















































gil ee ee 
<* 


Bae - - THE DESERT OF ICE. 53 


Good !” cried Johnson ; “ besides, when one can give all these 


‘ Jands their own names, it looks like genuine work, and we can’t 


consider ourselves as cast away on an unknown shore.” 

“Besides,” added Bell, “that simplities instructions and facilt- 
tates the execution of orders; we may be compelled to separate 
during some expedition or in hunting, and the best way for find- 
ing our way back is to know the names of the places.” 

“ Well,” said the doctor, “since we are all agreed, let us try to 
settle on some names without forgetting our country and friends.” 

“You are right, Doctor,” answered the American, “and you 
give what you say additional value by your warmth.” 

“Well,” continued the doctor, “let us go on in order.” 

Hatteras had not taken part in the conversation; he was 
thinking. Still the eyes of his companions were fastened on 
him ; he rose and said, — 

“Tf you are all willing, and I don’t think any one will dis- 
sent,” —at those words Hatteras looked at Altamont, — “it 
seems to me proper to name this house after its skilful architect, 
and to call it ‘ Doctor’s House.’” 

“That ’s true,” said Bell. 

“Good!” shouted Johnson ; “ Doctor’s House!” 

“Could n’t be better,’ added Altamont. ‘Hurrah for Dr. 
Clawbonny !” 

Three cheers were then given, to which Duke added an approy- 
ing bark. 

“So,” resumed Hatteras, “let this house bear that name until 
some new land is discovered to bear the name of our friend.” 

“Ah!” said Johnson, “if the earthly Paradise were to be 
named over again, the name of Clawbonny would suit it to a 
miracle !” 

The doctor, much moved, wanted to defend himself by mod- 
esty, but he was unable. It was then formally agreed that the 
feast had been eaten in the grand dining-hall of Doctor’s House, 
after being cooked in the kitchen of Doctor’s House, and that they 
would go comfortably to bed in the chamber of Doctor’s House. 

“ Now,” said the doctor, “let us take the more important 


points of our discoveries.” 


54 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. = 


“ There is,” said Hatteras, ‘this immense sea which surrounds — 
? 


us, and in which no ship has ever floated.” 

“No ship!” interrupted Altamont ; ‘it seems to me the Por- 
poise should not be forgotten, unless inceed it came by land,” he 
added jestingly. 

“One might think it had,” retorted Hatteras, ‘to sce the rocks 
on which it is now resting.” 

“Indeed, Hatteras,” answered Altamont with some vexation ; 
“but, on the whole, isn’t even that better than blowing up as 
the Forward did !” 

Hatteras was about to make some angry reply, when the doctor 
interrupted him. 

“My friends,” he said, “we are not talking about ships, but 
about the new sea — ” 

“Tt is not new,” interrupted Altamont. ‘It already bears a 
name on all the charts of the Pole. It is the Arctic Ocean, and 
I don’t see any reason for changing its name; if we should find 
out in the future that it is only a sound or gulf, we can see what 
is to be done.” 

“Very well,” said Hatteras. 

“ Agreed,” said the doctor, regretting that he had aroused a 
discussion between rival nationalities. 

“Tet us come to the land which we are now in,” resumed Hat- 
teras. ‘I am not aware that it bears any name on the most 
recent maps.” 

At these words he turned to Altamont, who did not lower his 
eyes, but answered, — 

“You may be mistaken again, Hatteras.” 

“Mistaken! this unknown land, this new country —’ 

“Has a name already,” answered the American, quietly. 


b) 


Hatteras was silent. His lips trembled. 

“And what is its name?” asked the doctor, a little surprised 
at the American’s statement. 
answered Altamont, “it is the custom, 


? 


“My dear Clawbonny,’ 
not to say the habit, of every explorer to give a name to the 
continent which he has discovered. It seems to me that on 


this occasion it was in my power and that it was my duty to 


use this indisprtable right —” e 



















































































“T am not aware that it bears any name on the most recent maps.’’ — Page 54. 


ll 












THE DESERT OF ICE. | mers 


 “Stil] —” said Johnson, whom Altamont’s coolness annoyed. 
“Tt seems to me hard to pretend,” the American resumed, 
“that the Porpoise did not discover this coast, and even on the 
supposition that it came by land,” he added, glancing at Hat- 
- teras, “there can’t be any question.” 

- «That is a claim I can’t admit,” answered Hatteras, gravely, 
forcibly restraining himself. “To give a name, one should be 
--the discoverer, and that I fancy you were not. Without us, 
besides, where would you be, sir, you who presume to impose 
conditions upon us? Twenty feet under the snow!” 

“And without me, sir,” replied the American, “without my 
ship, where would you be at this moment? Dead of cold and 
hunger ?” 

“My friends, said the doctor, intervening for the best, ‘‘ come, 
a little calm, it can all settle itself. Listen to me!” 

“That gentleman,” continued Altamont, pointing to the cap- 
tain, “can give a name to all the lands he discovers, if he discoy- 
ers any; but this continent belongs to me! IT cannot admit of 
its bearing two’ names, like Grinnell Land and Prince Albert’s 
. Land, because an Englishman and American happened to find it 
at the same time. Here it’s different. My rights of precedence 

are beyond dispute! No ship has ever touched this shore before 


aay. 






. 
Ce ae 


te 
\< 


i 


na OP 


* 


. — ye a, i - 
Toa FS Ne we ee 


mine. No human being before me has ever set foot upon it ; 
os now, I have given it its name, and it shall keep it.” 

“a “ And what is its name?” asked the doctor. 

ws - “New America,” answered Altamont. 

a Hatteras clinched his fists on the table. But with a violent 
: effort he controlled himself. 


S “Can you prove to me,” Altamont went on, ‘that any Eng- 

z lishman has ever set foot on this soil before me?” 

. Johnson and Bell were silent, although they were no less angry 
than the captain at the haughty coolness of their opponent. But 
there was nothing to be said. The doctor began again after a 








few moments of painful silence. 
“My friends,” he said, ‘‘the first law of humanity is justice ; it 
embraces all the rest. Let us then be just, and not give way to 
~ evil feelings. Altamont’s priority appears to me incontestable. 


Se tie x 





56 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


There is no question about it; we shall haye our revenge later, 
and England will have a.good share in future discoveries. Let 
us leave to this land, then, the name of New America. But Alta- 
mont, in giving it this name, has not, I imagine, disposed of the 
bays, capes, points, and promontories which it encloses, and I 
don’t see anything to prevent our calling it Victoria Bay. 

“None at all,” answered Altamont, ‘ provided that the cape 
jutting into the sea over there is named Cape Washington.” . 

“You might have chosen, sir,” cried Hatteras, beside himself, 
‘‘a name less offensive to an English ear.” 


” 


“But none dearer to an American ear,” answered Altamont, 
with much pride. 

“Come, come,” continued the doctor, who found it hard to 
“keep the peace in this little world, “no discussion about that ! 
Let an American be proud of his great men! Let us honor genins 
wherever it is found, and since Altamont has made his choice, let 
us now speak for ourselves and our friends. Let our captain —” 

“ Doctor,” answered Hatteras, “since this is an American land, 
T don’t care to have my name figure here.” 

“Ts that opinion unchangeable?” asked the doctor. 

“Tt is,” answered Hatteras. 

The doctor did not insist any further. 

“Well, then, it’s our turn,” he said, addressing the old sailor 
and the carpenter ; “let us leave a trace of our passage here. I 
propose that we call that island about three miles from here 
Johnson Island, in honor of our boatswain.” 

“QO,” said the latter, a little embarassed, “‘O doctor !” 

“ Ag to the mountain which we have seen in the west, we shall 
call it Bell Mountain, if our carpenter is willing.” 

“It’s too much honor for me,” answered Bell. 

“Tt ’s only fair,” said the doctor. F 

“Nothing better,” said Altamont. 

“Then we have only to name our fort,” resumed the doctor ; 
“there need be no discussion about that; it’s neither to Her 
Royal Highness Queen Victoria nor to Washington that we owe 
our protection in it at this moment, but to God, who brought us 
together and saved us all. Let it be called Fort Providence !” 


: 
« c 4 
. j 

Lg 8 ee NY on eA ee 





og RE A ae aS a a a 
THE DESERT OF ICE. 57 


“A capital plan!” answered Altamont. 

“Fort Providence,” added Johnson, “that sounds well! So, 
then, in returning from our excursions in the north, we shall 
start from Cape Washington to reach Victoria Bay, and from 
there to Fort Providence, where we shall find rest and plenty in 
Doctor’s House.” 
~ “Then that’s settled,” answered the doctor; “later, as we 
make discoveries, we shall have other names to give, which I 
hope will not give rise to discussion ; for, my friends, we ought 
to stand by one another and love one another; we represent 
humanity on this distant shore; let us not give ourselves up to 
the detestable passions which infest society ; let us rather remain 
unattackable by adversity. Who can say what dangers Heaven 
has in store for us, what sufferings we may not have to support 
before we return to our own country? Let us five be like one 
man, and leave on one side the rivalry which is wrong anywhere, 
and especially here. You understand me, Altamont? And you, 
Hatteras?” 

The two men made no reply, but the doctor did not seem to 
notice their silence. Then they talked about other things ; about 
hunting, so as to get a supply of fresh meat; with the spring, 
hares, partridges, even foxes, would return, as well as bears ; they 
resolved accordingly not to let a favorable day pass without ex- 
ploring the land of New America. 


CHAPTER VIII 
EXCURSION TO THE NORTH OF VICTORIA BAY. 


Tue next morning, as soon as the sun appeared, Clawbonny 
ascended the wall of rock which rose above Doctor’s House; it 
terminated suddenly in a sort of truncated cone; the doctor 
reached the summit with some little difficulty, and from there 
his eye beheld a vast expanse of territory which looked as if it 
were the result of some yolcanic convulsion ; a huge white canopy 


58 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


covered land and sea, rendering them undistinguishable the one — 


from the other. The doctor, when he saw that this rock over- 
looked all the surrounding plain, had an idea, —a fact which will 
not astonish those who are acquainted with him. This idea he 
turned over, pondered, and made himself master of by the time 
he returned to the house, and then he communicated it to his 
companions. 


“Tt has occurred to me,” he said to them, “to build a light- 


house at the top of the cone up there.” 

“A lighthouse?” they cried. 

“Yes, a lighthouse ; it will be of use to show us our way back 
at night when we are returning from distant excursions, and to 
light up the neighborhood in the eight months of winter.” 

“Certainly,” answered Altamont, “such an apparatus would 
be useful; but how will you build it?” 

“ With one of the Porpoise’s lanterns.” 

“Very good ; but with what will you feed the lamp? With seal- 
oil ?” ; 

“No; it doesn’t give a bright enough light; it could hardly 
pierce the fog.” 

“Do you think you can get hydrogen from our coal and make 
illuminating gas?” 

“Well, that light would not be bright enough, and it would be 
wrong to use up any of our fuel.” 

“Then,” said Altamont, ‘I don’t see —” 

“‘ As for me,” answered Johnson, “since the bullet of mercury, 
the ice lens, the building of Fort Providence, I believe Dr. Claw- 
bonny is capable of anything.” 

“Well,” resumed Altamont, “will you tell us what sort of a 
light you are going to have?” 

“It’s very Simple,” answered the doctor ; “an electric light.” 

“ An electric light!” ; 

“Certainly ; did n’t you have on board of the Porpoise a Bun- 
sen’s pile in an uninjured state?” 

“Yes,” answered the American. 

“Evidently, when you took it, you intended to make some 
experiments, for it is complete. You have the necessary acid, 









r. 
3 
P 4 
§ 
, 


ae tee 





























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































” 


“The doctor reached the summit with some little difficulty 





= » a, ee tel ee et = ». aM —* - tod ‘ems . + Dds e3 
gl sa a Ca EVs et iat ae Pr Mee —* # 





. . =~ 


THE DESERT OF ICE. : 59 


; and the wires isolated, hence it would be easy for us to get an 
ys . electric light. It will be more brilliant, and will cost noth- 
= ing.” 

“That is perfect,” answered the boatswain, “and the less time 


»we lose —” 
‘Well, the materials are there,” answered the doctor, “and in 































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































an hour we shall have a column ten feet high, which will be 
enough.” : 

The doctor went out; his companions followed him to the top 
of the cone; the column was promptly built and was soon sur- 
mounted by one of the Porpoise’s lanterns. Then the doctor 
arranged the conducting wires which were connected with the pile ; 
this was placed in the parlor of the ice-house, and was preserved 
from the frost by the heat of the stoves. From there the wires 
ran to the lantern. All this was quickly done, and they waited 
till sunset to judge of the effect. At night the two charcoal 
points, kept at a proper distance apart in the lantern, were 
brought together, and flashes of brilliant light, which the wind’ 
could neither make flicker nor extinguish, issued from the light- 
house. It was a noteworthy sight, these sparkling rays, rivalling 
the brilliancy of the plains, and defining sharply the outlines of 


e 12 


60 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 3 


iY 


the surrounding objects. Johnson could not help clapping his | 


hands. 

“ Dr. Clawbonny,” he said, ‘has made another sun !” 

“One ought to do a little of everything,” answered the doctor, 
modestly. 

The cold put an end to the general admiration, and each man 
hastened back to his coverings. 

After this time life was regularly organized. During the fol- 
lowing days, from the 15th to the 20th of April, the weather was 
very uncertain; the temperature fell suddenly twenty degrees, and 
the atmosphere experienced severe changes, at times being full of 
snow and squally, at other times cold and dry, so that no one 
could set foot outside without precautions. However, on Satur- 
day, the wind began to fall; this circumstance made an expedi- 
tion possible ; they resolved accordingly to devote a day to hunt- 
ing, in order to renew their provisions. In the morning, Alta- 
mont, the doctor, Bell, each one taking a double-barrelled gun, a 
proper amount of, food, a hatchet, a snow-knife in case they 
should have to dig a shelter, set out under a cloudy sky. Dur- 
ing their absence Hatteras was to explore the coast and take their 


bearings. The doctor took care to start the light ; its rays were 


very bright; in fact, the electric light, being equal to that of 
three thousand candles or three hundred gas-jets, is the only one 
which at all approximates to the solar light. 

The cold was sharp, dry, and still. The hunters set out 
towards Cape Washington, finding their way made easier over 
the hardened snow. In about half an hour they had made the 
three miles which separated the cape from Fort Providence. 
Duke was springing about them. The coast inclined to the east, 
and the lofty summits of Victoria Bay tended to grow lower 
toward the north. This made them believe that New America 
was perhaps only an island; but they did not have then to con- 
cern themselves with its shape. The hunters took the route by 
‘the sea and went forward rapidly. There was no sign of life, no 


trace of any building; they were walking over a virgin soil. 
They thus made about fifteen miles in the first three hours, eat- 









a sng 















- sport. “They s saw very few traces of hare, fox, or wolf. Still, a 
Ret, snow-birds flew here and there, announcing the return of 
spring and the arctic animals. The three companions had been 
compelled to go inland to get around some deep ravines and some 
pointed rocks which ran down from Bell Mountain; but after a 
Sa few delays they succeeded in regaining the shore ; the ice had not 


hs ay rg a ee 
ge ala te, SL Ge = ee 


ao 
ew) 


yet separated. Far from it. The sea remained fast; stilla few 
He traces of seals announced the beginning of their visit, and that — - 
_ they were already come to breathe at the surface of the ice-field, 


NG was evident from the large marks, the fresh breaking of the ice, 
that many had very recently been on the land. These animals 
are very anxious for the rays of the sun, and they like to bask on 


5 


eee ee 


Lee” 








































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































z- 3 
a ee 
be 2 
“" § 
4 
; 
f 
the shore in the sun’s heat. The doctor called his companions’s 
attention to these facts. i 
“Let us notice this place,” he said. “It is very possible that ; 

in summer we shall find hundreds of seals here ; they can be ap- 
proached and caught without difficulty, if they are unfamiliar with ; 
men. But we must take care not to frighten them, or they will ¥ 
Py he disappear as if by magic and never return; in that way, careless 5 
J 


*) hunters, instead of killing them one by one, have often attacked. 5 
them in a crowd, with noisy eries, and haye thereby driven them 3 


p33 
? 
ee ae er, 
ee PF) a> baie 2 P q Tuer 


tas 


a 


62 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


* Are they only killed for their skin and oil?” asked Bell. 

“By Europeans, yes, but the Esquimaux eat them; they live 
on them, and pieces of seal’s flesh, which they mix with blood 
and fat, are not at all unappetizing. After all, it depends on the 
way it’s treated, and I shall give you some delicate cutlets if you 
don’t mind their dark color.” 

“We shall see you at work,” answered Bell; “I'll gladly eat. 
it, Doctor.” 

“My good Bell, as much as you please. But, however much 
you eat, you will never equal a Greenlander, who eats ten or 
fifteen pounds of it a day.” 

‘Fifteen pounds!” said Bell. ‘“ What stomachs! ” 

“Real polar stomachs,’ answered the doctor; ‘ prodigious 
stomachs which can be dilated at will, and, I ought to add, can 
be contracted in the same way, so that they support starving as 
well as gorging. At the beginning of his dinner, the Esquimaux 
is thin; at the end, he is fat, and not to be recognized! It is 
true that his dinner often lasts a whole day.” 

“Evidently,” said Altamont, ‘‘this voracity is peculiar to the 
inhabitants of cold countries ! ” 

“‘T think so,” answered the doctor; “in the arctic regions one 
has to eat a great deal; it is a condition not only of strength, but 
of existence. Hence the Hudson’s Bay Company gives each man 
eight pounds of meat a day, or twelve pounds of fish, or two 
pounds of pemmican.” 

“That ’s a generous supply,” said the carpenter. 

“But not so much as you imagine, my friend; and an Indian 
crammed in that way does no better work than an Englishman 
with his pound of beef and his pint of beer a day.” 

“Then, Doctor, all is for the best.” 

“True, but still an Esquimaux meal may well astonish us. 
While wintering at Boothia Land, Sir John Ross was always sur- 
prised at the voracity of his guides; he says somewhere that two 
men — two, you understand — ate in one morning a whole quarter 
of a musk-ox; they tear the meat into long shreds, which they 
place in their mouths ; then each one, cutting off at his lips what 
his mouth cannot hold, passes it over to his companion; or else 





A. 


f 


pa THE DESERT OF ICE. 63 


the gluttons, letting the shreds hang down to the ground, swal- 
low them gradually, as a boa-constrictor swallows an animal, and 
like it stretched out at full length on the ground.” 

“Ugh!” said Bell, “the disgusting brutes!” 

“Every one eats in his own way,” answered the American, 
philosophically. 

“ Fortunately !”” replied the doctor. 

“ Well,” said Altamont, “since the need of food is so great in 
these latitudes, I’m no longer surprised that in accounts of arctic 
voyages there is always so much space given to describing the 


- meals.” 


“You are right,” answered the doctor; “and it is a remark 
which I have often made myself; it is not only that plenty of 
food is needed, but also because it is often hard to get it. So one 
is always thinking of it and consequently always talking of it!” 

“Still,” said Altamont, “ if my memory serves me right, in Nor- 
way, in the coldest countries, the peasants need no such enormous 
supply: a little milk, eggs, birch-bark bread, sometimes salimon, 
never any meat ; and yet they are hardy men.” 

“It’s a matter of organization,” auswered the doctor, “and one 
which [ can't explain. Still, [ fancy that the second or third 
generation of Norwegians, carried to Greenland, would end by 
feeding themselves in the Greenland way. And we too, my 
friends, if we were to remain in this lovely country, would get to 
live like the Esquimaux, uot to say like gluttons.” 

“Dr. Clawbonny,” said Bell, “it makes me hungry to talk in 
this way.” 

“Tt doesn’t make me,” answered Altamont; “it disgusts me 
rather, and makes me dislike seal’s flesh. But I fancy we shall 
have an opportunity to try the experiment. If I’m not mistaken, 
I see some living body down there on the ice.” 


’ 1 


“It’s a walrus,” shouted the doctor; “ forward silently 

Indeed, the animal was within two hundred feet of the hunters ; 
he was stretching and rolling at his ease in the pale rays of the 
sun. The three men separated so as to surround him and cut 


off his retreat ; and they approached within a few fathoms’ lengths 


of him, hiding behind the hummocks, and then fired. The walrus 








G61. THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERA 





re A 


eae " ai. 
SCissara 


SS 


rolled over, still full of strength; he crushed the ice in his attempts 
to get away; but Altamont attacked him with his hatchet, and 
succeeded in cutting his dorsal fins. The walrus made a desperate 
resistance ;“new shots finished him, and he remained stretched 
lifeless on the ice-field stained with his blood. He was a good- 
sized animal, being nearly fifteen feet long from his muzzle to the 
end of his tail, and he would certainly furnish many barrels 


of oil. ‘The doctor cut out the most savory parts of the flesh, Pie 
ie 

and he left the corpse to the mercies of a few crows, which, at this 3 
‘ 




























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































season of the year, were floating through the air. The night 
began to fall. They thought of returning to Fort Providence ; 
the sky had become perfectly clear, and while waiting for the 
moon to rise, the splendor of the stars was magnificent. 
“Come, push on,” said the doctor, “it’s growing late; to be 
sure, we’ve had poor luck; but as long as we have enough for — 
supper, there ’s no need of complaining. Only let ’s take the 
shortest way and try not to get lost; the stars will help us.” 2 
But yet in countries where the North Star shines directly 
above the traveller’s head, it is hard to walk by it; in faet, when A 
“the north is directly in the zenith, it is hard to determine the 


“ 


“4 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 65 





other cardinal points ; fortunately the moon and great constella- 
tions aided the doctor in determining the route. In order to 
shorten their way, he resolved to avoid the sinuosities of the 
coast, and to go directly across the land ; it was more direct, ‘but 
less certain ; so, after walking for a few hours, the little band had 
completely lost its way. They thought of spending the night in 
an ice-house and waiting till the next day to find out where they 
~ ,were, even if they should have to return along the shore; but 
the doctor, fearing that Hatteras and Johnson might be anxious, 
insisted on their going on. 
“Duke is showing us the way,” he said, “and he can’t be 
wrong; he has an instinct which is surer than needle or star. 
Let us follow him.” 
Duke went forward, and they all followed confidently. And 
they were justified in so doing. Svon a distant light appeared 
_ on the horizon; it was not to be confounded with a star in the 
low clouds. 

“There ’s our light!” cried the doctor. 

“Do you think so, Doctor!” asked the carpenter. 

“T’m sure of it. Let us push on.” 

As they approached the light grew brighter, and soon they 
enjoyed its full brilliancy ; they advanced in full illumination, 
and their sharply cut shadows ran out behind them over the 
snow. ‘They hastened their gait, and in about half an hour they 
were climbing up the steps of Fort Providence. 


CHAPTER IX. 
COLD AND HEAT. 


Hatreras and Johnson had waited for the three hunters with 
some uneasiness. When they returned they were delighted to 
find a warm and comfortable shelter. That evening the tem- 
perature had decidedly fallen, and the thermometer outside stood 
at —31°. The three were very much fatigued and almost 


' a A? oe. 
sti S 


6G THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


frozen, so that they could hardly drag one foot after the other : 


fortunately the stoves were drawing well; the doctor became 
cook, and roasted a few walrus cutlets. At nine o’clock they 
all five sat down before a nourishing supper. 

“On my word,” said Bell, “at the risk of passing for an Es- 
quimaux, I will say that food is an important thing in winter- 
ing; one ought to take what one can get.” 

Each of them having his mouth full, it was impossible for 
any one to answer the carpenter at once; but the doctor made 
a sign that he was right. The walrus cutlets were declared 
excellent ; or, if they made no declarations about it, they ate it 
all up, which is much more to the purpose. At dessert the 
doctor made the coffee, as was his custom; he intrusted this 
task to no one else; he made it at the table, in an alcohol 
machine, and served it boiling hot. He wanted it hot enough 
to scald his throat, or else he did not think it worth drinking. 
That evening he drank it so hot that his companions could not 
imitate him. 

“But you ll burn yourself, Doctor,” said Altamont. 

“QO no!” was the answer. 

“Ts your throat lined with copper?” asked Johnson. 

“ No, my friends ; 
I advise you to take 
counsel from me. 
There are some per- 
sons, and I am of 





the number, who 














drink coffee at a 
temperature of 
13i 

“One hundred 
and thirty-one de- 
grees!” cried Alta- 
mont; “but the hand can’t support that heat!” 























“Evidently, Altamont, since the hand can’t endure more than 
122° in the water; but the palate and tongue are not so tender 
as the hand; they can endure much more.” 















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“They advanced in full illumination, and their sharply cut shadows ran out 


behind them aver the snow.” — Page 65. 











. 






“You surprise me,” 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 67 


said Altamont. 


“Well, I’m going to convince you.” 

And the doctor, bringing the thermometer from the parlor, 
plunged the bulb into his cup of boiling coffee ; he waited until 
it stood at a 131°, and then he drank it with evident joy. Bell 
tried to do the same thing, but he burned himself and shouted 


aloud. 
“You are not used 


to it,” said the doctor. 


“Clawbonny,” asked Altamont, “can you tell me the highest 
temperature the human body can support?” 


“ Kasily,” answered 
the doctor ; ‘‘ various 
experiments have 
been made and curi- 
ous facts have been 
found out. I remem- 
ber one or two, and 
they serve to show 
that one can get ac- 
customed toanything, 
even to not cooking 
where a_ beefsteak 
would cook. So, the 
story goes that some 
girls employed at the 
public bakery of the 


city of La Roche- = 


foucauld, in France, 
could remain ten 
minutes in the oven 
in a temperature of 
300°, that is to say, 


II A 















































































































































89° hotter than boiling water, while potatoes and meat were 
cooking around them.” 

“What girls!” said Altamont. 

“Here is another indisputable example. Nine of our fellow- 


countrymen in 1778, 


ae 


Fordyce, Banks, Solander, Blagden, Home, 


> 


68 THE ADVE "TURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


North, Lord Seaforth, and Captain Phillips, endured a tempera- 
ture of 295°, while eggs and roast beef were cooking near them.” 

“And they were Englishmen!” said Bell, with an accent of 
pride. 

“Yes, Bell,” answered the doctor. 

“O, Americans could have done better !” said Altamont. 

“They would have roasted,” said the doctor, laughing. 

“And why not?” answered the American. 

“At any rate, they have not tried; still, I stand up for my 
countrymen. There’s one thing I must not forget ; it is incred- 
ible if one can doubt of the accuracy of the witnesses. The 
Duke of Ragusa and Dr. Jung, a Frenchman and an Austrian, 
saw a Turk dive into a bath which stood at 170°.” 

“But it seems to me,” said Johnson, that that is not equal 
to other people you mentioned.” 

“‘T beg your pardon,” answered 
the doctor; there is a great dif 
ference between entering warm air 
and entering warm water; warm 
air induces perspiration, and that 
protects the skin, while in such 
hot water there is no perspiration 
and the skin is burned. Hence a 
bath is seldem hotter than 107°. 
ib <i: This Turk must have been an ex- 
& Apiary traordinary man to have been able 

‘9 to endure so great heat.” 





“Dr. Clawbonny,” asked Johnson, “what is the usual tem- 
perature of living beings?” 

“Tt varies very much,” answered the doctor; “birds are the 
warmest blooded, and of these the duck and hen are the most 
remarkable ; their temperature is above 110°, while that of the 
owl is not more than 104°; then come the mammalia, men; the 
temperature of Englishmen is generally 101°.” - “ 

“T’m sure Mr. Altamont is going to claim something more 
for the Americans,” said Johnson. 

“Well,” said Altamont, “there are some very warm; but as 






r 
4 


4 me 
veal) >= 





ae 


» 
.< 






a 







Op Se a ee) tS 


- 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 69 


I’ve never placed a thermometer into their thorax or under their 
tongue, I can’t be sure about it.” 

“The difference of temperature,” resumed the doctor, ‘ be- 
tween men of different races is quite imperceptible when they 
are placed in the same circumstances, whatever be the nature of 
their bringing-up; I should add, that the temperature varies but 
little between men at the equator and at the pole.” 

“So,” said Altamont, “our temperature is about the same 
here as in England?” 

“About the same,” answered the doctor; ‘‘as to the other 


-manmmalia, their temperature is a trifle higher than that of man. 


The horse is about the same, as well as the hare, the elephant, 
the porpoise, the tiger; but the cat, the squirrel, the rat, pan- 
ther, sheep, ox, dog, monkey, goat, reach 103°; and the warmest 
of all, the pig, goes above 104°.” 

“That is humiliating for us,” said Altamont. 

“Then come amphibious animals and fish, whose temperature 
varies very much according to that of the water. The serpent 
does not go above 86°, the frog 70°, and the shark the same in 
a medium a degree and a half cooler; insects appear to have 
the temperature of the water and the air.” 

“That is all very well,” said Hatteras, who had not yet spoken, 
“and I’m much obliged to the doctor for his information ; but 
we are talking as if we had to endure torrid heats. Would it 
not be wiser to talk about the cold, to know to what we are 
exposed, and what is the lowest temperature that has ever been 
observed 1” 

“ True,” added Johnson. 

“There's nothing easier,” continued the doctor, “and I may 
be able to give you some information.” 

“T dare say,” said Johnson ; ‘‘ you know everything.” 

“My friends, | only know what others have taught me, and 
when I’ve finished you’ll know exactly as much. This is what 
I know about cold and the lowest temperatures observed in 
Europe. A great many noteworthy winters have been known, 
and it seems as if the severest has a periodic return about every 
forty-one years, —a period which nearly corresponds with the 


~ a. ee ot) a een ee eeery oe 
° - ee 


70 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. — 


greater appearance of spots on the sun. I can mention the 
winter of 1364, when the Rhone was frozen as far as Arles; 
that of 1408, when the Danube was frozen its whole length, and 
when wolves ran over to Jutland without wetting their feet ; 
that of 1509, during which the Mediterranean at Cette and 
Marseilles and the Adriatic at Venice were frozen, and the Baltic 
as late as April 10; that of 1608, which killed all the cattle in 
England ; that of 1789, when the Thames was frozen —as far 
as Gravesend, six leagues — below London; that of 1813, of 
which the French retain such a terrible memory ; and that of 
1829, the earliest and longest winter of this century. So much 
for Europe.” 


“But what temperature has been reached above the Arctic 


Circle?” asked Altamont. 

“Really,” said the doctor; ‘I believe we have experienced the 
greatest cold that has ever been observed, since our spirit ther- 
mometer indicated one day —72°; and if I remember aright, the 
lowest temperatures ever observed before were only —61° at Mel- 
ville Island, —65° at Port Felix, and —70° at Fort Reliance.” 

“Yes,” said Hatteras; “we were delayed, and unfortunately 
too, by a very severe winter!” 

“You were delayed?” exclaimed Altamont, staring at the 
captain. 

“Tn our journey westward,” interposed the doctor, hastily. 

“So,” said Altamont, continuing the conversation, ‘the maxi- 
mum and minimum temperatures endured by men vary about 
two hundred degrees?” 

“Yes,” answered the doctor; ‘‘a thermometer exposed to the 
open air and sheltered from reflection has never risen above 135°, 
and in the greatest colds it never falls below —72°. So, my 
friends, you see we can take our ease.” 

“But still,” said Johnson, ‘if the sun were to be extinguished 
suddenly, would not the earth endure greater cold?” 

“The sun won’t be extinguished,” answered the doctor; “ but 
even if it should be, the temperature would not fall any lower, 
probably, than what I have mentioned.” 

“That ’s strange.” 








] 
; 
; 
7 
7 





— | «= = a e — AL? 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 71 


«O, I know it used to be said that in the space outside of the 
atmosphere the temperature was thousands of degrees below 
zero! but since the experiments of the Frenchman Fourrier, 
this has been disproved; he has shown that if the earth were 
placed in a medium void of all heat, that the temperature at 
the pole would be much greater, and that there would be very 
great differences between night and day; so, my friends, it is 
no colder a few millions of miles from the earth than it is here.” 

“Tell me, Doctor,” said Altamont, “is not the temperature 
of America lower than that of other countries of the world?” 

“Without doubt ; but don’t be proud of it,” answered the doc- 
tor with a laugh. 

“ And what is the reason ?” 

“No very satisfactory explanation has ever been given; so it 
occurred to Hadley that a comet had come into collision with the 
earth and had altered the position of its axis of rotation, that 
is to say, of its poles; according to him, the North Pole, which 
used to be situated at Hudson’s Bay, found itself carried farther 
east, and the land at the old Pole preserved a greater cold, which 
long centuries of the sun have not yet heated.” 

“ And you do not admit this hypothesis ?” 

‘Not for a moment; for what is true of the eastern coast of 
America is not true of the western coast, which has a higher 
temperature. No! we can prove that the isothermal lines differ 
from the terrestrial parallels, and that is all.” 

“Do you know, Doctor,” said Johnson, “that it is pleasant to 
talk about cold in our present circumstances ?” 

“Exactly, Johnson ; we can call practice to the aid of theory. 
These countries are a vast laboratory where curious experiments 
on low temperatures can be made. Only, be always careful; if 
any part of your body is frozen, rub it at once with snow to 
restore the circulation of the blood ; and if you come near the fire, 
be careful, for you may burn your hands or feet without noticing 
it; then amputation would be necessary, and we should try to 
leave nothing of ourselves in these lands. And now I think it 
would be well for us to seek a few hours of sleep.” 

“ Willingly,” auswered the doctor’s companions. 


72 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 





“Who keeps watch over the stove?” ; 
“T do,” answered Pell. es 
“ Well, my friend, take care the fire does not fall out, for it’s 

most abominably cold this evening.” 
“Don’t be uneasy, Doctor ; it’s very sharp, but see, the sky is 

all ablaze !” 
“Yes,” answered the doctor, going up to the window, “it’s a 


magnificent aurora. What a glorious sight! I should never 


get tired of looking at it!” 

















1 
i 4 i ! 


ie We 


i 



































In fact, the doctor admired all these cosmic phenomena, to 
which his companions paid but little attention ; he had noticed, 
besides, that their appearance always preceded disturbances of 
the magnetic needle, and he was preparing some observations on 
the subject which he intended for Admiral Fitz-Roy’s “ Weather 
Book.” 


Soon, while Bell was on watch near the stove, all the rest, 


stretched on their beds, slept quietly. 


=¥ 


= ; = Ls 
ee Ew 





THE DESERT OF ICE. 73 


CHAL TER \X. 
THE PLEASURES OF WINTER-QUARTERS. 


THERE is a gloomy monotony about life at the Pole. Man is 
wholly the sport of the changes of the weather, which alternates 
between intense cold and severe storms with savage relentlessness. 
The greater part of the time it is impossible to set foot out of 
doors ; one is imprisoned in the hut of ice. Long months pass in 
this way, so that men lead the life of moles. 

The next day the thermometer was several degrees lower, and 
the air was full of clouds of snow, which absorbed all the light of 
day. The doctor saw himself kept within doors, and he folded his 
arms; there was nothing to be done, except every hour to clear 
away the entrance-hall and to repolish the ice-walls which the 
heat within made damp; but the snow-house was very finely 
built, and the snow added to its resistance by augmenting the 
thickness of its walls. 

The stores were equally secure. All the objects taken from 
the ship had been arranged in order in these * Docks of Merchan- 
dise,” as the doctor called them. Now, although these stores 
were at a distance of only sixty feet from the house, it was yet on 
some days almost impossible to get to them; hence a certain 
quantity of provisions had always to be kept in the kitchen for 
daily needs. 

They had been wise in unloading the Porpoise. The ship was 
exposed to a gentle, but persistent pressure, which was gradually 
crushing it; it was evident that nothing could be done with its 
fragments; still the doctor kept hoping to be able to build a 
launch out of them to return to England in, but the time for 
building it had not yet come. 

So for the most part the five men remained in complete idle- 
ness. Hatteras was pensive and always lying on the bed; Alta- 


mont was drinking or sleeping, and the doctor took good care not 
14 


a THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS, 





to rouse him from his slumbers, for he was always afraid of some 

distressing quarrel. These two men seldom spoke to one another. c 
So during meal-time the prudent Clawbonny always took care 

to guide the conver- 

sation and to direct 

it in such a way as 

not to offend the 

susceptibilities of 

either ; but he had 

a great deal to do. 

He did his best 

to instruct, distract, 

and interest his com- 

panions; when he 

was not arranging 

his notes about the expedition, he read aloud some history, 

geography, or work on meteorology, which had reference to their 

condition ; he presented things pleasantly and philosophically, 

deriving wholesome in- 























struction from the slight- 
est incidents; his inex- 
haustible memory never 
played him false ; he ap- 
plied his doctrines to the 
persons who were with 
him, reminding them of \ 

such or such a_ thing AO: 

which happened under 

such or such circumstances; and he filled out his theories by the 





force of personal arguments. 

This worthy man may be called the soul of this little world, a 
soul glowing with frankness and justice. His companions had 
perfect confidence in him; he even improved Captain Hatteras, 
who, besides, was very fond of him; he made his words, manners, 
and custom so agreeable, that the life of these five men within six 
degrees of the Pole seemed perfectly natural ; when he was speak- 
ing, any one would have imagined he was in his office in Liver- 


* 
5s 


Sake 






































































































































































































































































































































































































































’ 


* He did his best to instruct and interest his companions.’ 


— Page 74, 









THE DESERT OF ICE. 75 


pool. And yet this situation was unlike that of castaways on 
the islands of the Pacific Ocean, those Robinsons whose touching 
history always aroused the envy of their readers. There, the 
natural richness offers a thousand different resources; a little 
imagination and effort suffice to secure material happiness ; 
nature aids man ; hunting and fishing supply all his wants; the 
trees grow to aid him, caverns shelter him, brooks slake his 
thirst, dense thickets hide him from the sun, and severe cold 
never comes upon him in the winter; a grain tossed into the 
earth brings forth a bounteous return a few months later. There, 
outside of society, everything is found to make man happy. And 
then these happy isles lie in the path of ships; the castaway can 
hope to be picked uf, and he can wait in patience. 

But here on the coast of New America how great is the differ- 
ence! This comparison would continually occur to the doctor, 
but he never mentioned it to the others, and he struggled against 
the enforced idleness. 

He yearned ardently for the spring, in order to resume his ex- 
cursions ; and yet he was anxious about it, for he foresaw difficulties 
between Hatteras and Altamont. If they pushed on to the Pole, 
there would necessarily be rivalry between the two men. Hence 
he had to prepare for the worst, and still, as far as he could, to 
try to pacify these rivals; but to reconcile an American and an 
Englishman, two men hostile to one another from their birth, one 
endowed with real insular prejudice, the other with the adventu- 
rous, irreverent spirit of his country, was no easy task. When the 
doctor thought of their eager rivalry, which in fact was one of 
nationalities, he could not help, not shrugging his shoulders, but 
lamenting human weakness. He would often talk to Johnson on 
this subject ; he and the old sailor agreed in the matter; they 
were uncertain what view to take, and they foresaw complications 
in the future. 

Still, the bad weather continued; they could not leave Fort 
Providence even for an hour. Night and day they had to remain 
in the snow-house. They all found it tedious, except the doctor, 
who found diversion for himself. 

“Tsn’t there any way we can amuse ourselves?” said Altamont 


76 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


one evening. “ This isn’t really living, lying here like sluggish 
reptiles all winter.” 

“It’s a pity,” said the doctor, ‘that we are too few to organize 
any system of distractions.” 

“Do you mean it would be easier for us to combat idleness if 
there were more of us?” asked the American. 

‘Yes; when whole crews have wintered in boreal regions, they 
have found out the way to avoid idleness.” 

“To tell the truth,” said Altamont, “I should like to know 
how they did; they must have been very ingenious to get any 
fun out of these surroundings. They didn’t ask one another 
riddles, I suppose ?” 

“No,” answered the doctor, “but they introduced into these 
lands two great means of amusement, the press and the theatre.” 
“What! did they have a newspaper?” asked the American. 

“Did they act plays?” asked Bell. 

“Yes, and with much amusement. While he was wintering at 
Melville Island, Captain Parry offered his crews these two enter- 
tainments, and they enjoyed them very much.” 

“Well,” said Johnson, ‘I should have liked to be there; it 
must have been funny enough.” 

“Funny indeed; Lieutenant Beecher was manager of the 
theatre, and Captain Sabine editor of the ‘Winter Chronicle, or 
Gazette of North Georgia.’ ” 

““Good names,” said Altamont. 

“The paper appeared every Monday morning, from November 
1, 1819, to March 20, 1820. It contained an account of every- 
-thing that happened, the hunts, accidents, incidents, and of 
the weather; there were stories written for it; to be sure, it 
lacked the humor of Sterne, and the delightful articles of the 
‘Daily Telegraph’; but they got amusement from it; its read- 
ers were not over-critical, and I fancy no journalists ever enjoyed 
their occupation more.” 

‘‘Well,” said Altamont, “I should like to hear some extracts 
from this paper, my dear Doctor ; its articles must all have been 
frozen solid.” 


‘No, no,” answered the doctor; “at any rate, what would 












THE DESERT OF ICE. (ere 


have seemed simple enough to the Liverpool Philosophical So- 
ciety, or the London Literary Institution, was perfectly satis- 
factory to the crews beneath the snow. Do you want a sample !” 

“What! Do you remember —” 

“No, but you had ‘Parry's Voyages’ on board the Porpovse, 
and I can read you his own account.” 

“Do!” shouted the doctor’s companions. 

“There ’s nothing easier.” 


Sa == 






















































































































































































eS ——— 
The doctor got the book from the shelves, and soon found the 
passage. 

“See here,” he said, “‘here are some extracts from the news- 
puper. It is a letter addressed to the editor : — 

“Tt is with genuine satisfaction that your plan for the estab- 
lishment of a newspaper has been received. I am convinced that 
under your charge it will furnish us with a great deal of amuse- 
ment, and will serve to lighten materially the gloom of our hun- 
dred days of darkness. 

“«The interest which I, for my part, take in it has caused me 
to examine the effect of your announcement upon the members of 
our society, and I can assure you, to use the consecrated phrase 
of the London press, that it has produced a profound impression 
upon the public. 


TKS THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS, 


“<The day after the appearance of your prospectus, there was on 
board an unusual and unprecedented demand for ink. The green 
cloth of our tables was suddenly covered with a deluge of quill- 
pens, to the great injury of one of our servants, who, in trying to 
remove them, got one under his nail. 

“< Finally, [ know that Sergeant Martin has had no less than 
nine pocket-knives to sharpen. 

“*Our tables are groaning beneath the unaccustomed weight 
of inkstands, which had not seen the light for two months; and it 
is even whispered that the depths of the hold have been often 
opened to secure many reams of paper, which did not expect to 
issue so soon from their place of repose. 

“¢T shall not forget to say to you that I have some suspicions 
that an effort will be made to slip into your box some articles, 
which, lacking complete originality, and not being wholly unpub- 
lished, may not suit your plan. I can affirm that no later than 
last evening an author was seen bending over his desk, holding 
in one hand an open volume of the “Spectator,” while with the 
other he was thawing his ink by the flame of the lamp. It is 
useless to recommend you to keep a lookout against such devices ; 
we must not see reappearing in the ‘‘ Winter Chronicle ” what our 
ancestors used to read at breakfast more than a century ago.’” 

“Well, well,” said Altamont, when the doctor had finished 
reading, “there is really good humor in that, and the writer must 
have been a bright fellow.” 

“ Bright is the word,” answered the doctor. “Stop a moment, 
here is an amusing advertisement : — 

“Wanted. A middle-aged, respectable woman to help dress 
the ladies of the troupe of the ‘“ Theatre Royal of North Georgia.” 
Suitable salary given, tea and beer free. Address the Committee 
of the theatre. — N. B. A widow preferred.’ ” 

“They were not disgusted, at any rate,” said Johnson. 

“And did they get the widow?” asked Bell. 

“Probably,” answered the docior, ‘fur here is an answer ad- 
dressed to. the committee : — 

“Gentlemen: I am a widow, twenty-six years old, and I can 
produce warm testimonials as to my morals and talents. But 





i Se 


xr. oe i te ‘3 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 79 

















before taking charge of the dresses of the actresses of your thea- 
* tre, I am anxious to know if they intend to keep their trousers on, 
and whether I can have the aid of some strong sailors to lace 
their corsets properly. This being arranged, gentlemen, you may 
count upon your servant. 


+ ABs 
«“«P. §. Can you not substitute brandy for beer ?’” 


“Bravo!” shouted Altamont. ‘I suppose they had ladies’- 
maids to lace you by the capstan. Well, they were jolly 
fellows |” 

“ Like all who do what they set out to do,” remarked Hatteras. 

Hatteras uttered these words, and then he relapsed into his 
usual silence. The doctor, unwilling to dwell on that subject, 
hastened to resume his reading. ; 

“See here,” he said, “‘here is a picture of arctic sufferings ; it 
may be varied infinitely ; but a few of the observations are wise 
enough ; for instance : — 

‘“To go out in the moriing to take the air, and on setting foot 
off the ship, to take a cold bath in the cook’s trough. 

_ “*To go on a hunting-party, get near a fine reindeer, take aim, 
try to fire, and miss the shot on account of a damp cap. 

“To start out with a piece of fresh bread in the pocket, and 


teeth. 

“<To leave the table suddenly on hearing a wolf is in sight of 
the ship, and to come back and find one’s dinner eaten by the cat. 
“<To return from a walk rapt in thought, and to be awakened 
suddenly by the embrace of a bear.’ 

“You see, my friends,” said the doctor, “we should not find it 
hard to imagine other polar troubles; but from the moment it 
becomes necessary to endure these miseries, it would be a pleas- 
ure to narrate them.” 

_ “Upon my word,” said Altamont, “that’s an amusing paper, 
and it’s a pity we can’t subscribe to it.” = 
“Suppose we should start one,” suggested Johnson. 

“We five!’ answered Clawbonny ; “ we should all be editors, 


and there would be no readers.” 
aide 15 


oy: & 
- 


BO PT ere gfe) Sa oe ee 


when one gets hungry to find it frozen hard enough to break one’s. 


-_ 
4 


asi al oF) ging aes aS en, ase beeeeeY ' 
: i ~. SpA Ss 






80 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


« Nor audience either, if we should act a play,” said Altamont. bo 

“Tell us, Doctor,” said Johnson, ‘something about Captain 
Parry’s theatre; did they act new plays there?” 

“Of course ; at first they made use of two volumes which were 
put on board of the Hector, and they had plays every fortnight ; 
but soon they had acted all; then they resorted to original au- 
thors, and Parry himself wrote a suitable play for the Christmas 
holidays ; it was very successful, and was called ‘The Northwest 
Passage, or the End of the Voyage.’” 

“A capital title,” answered Altamont ; “but I confess, if I had 
to write on that subject, I should be puzzled about the end.” 

“You are right,” said Bell; “who can say how it will end?” 

“True,” answered the doctor; “but why bother about the end, 
since the beginning is so favorable? Let us trust in Providence, : 
my friends; let us act our part well, and since the end depends 
on the Author of all things, let us have confidence in him ; -he 
will know what to do with us.” 

“Let us sleep on it,” answered Johnson; “it is late, and since 
bedtime has come, let us turn in.” 

“You are in a great hurry, my old friend,” said the doctor. 

“ Naturally enough, Doctor, I am so comfortable in bed! And 
then my dreams are pleasant. I dream of warm countries; or 
that, to tell the truth, half of my life is spent at the equator and 
half at. the Pole!” 

“The deuce,” said Altamont, ‘‘you have a happy tempera- 
ment.” 

“True,” answered the boatswain. 

“Well, it would be cruel to detain Johnson any longer. His =~ 
tropical sun is waiting for him. Let us go to bed.” 


+ tcl oss pe ek ee ae at ea Pee wes oe gt 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 81 


CHAPTER XI. 





DISQUIETING TRACES. 


ES In the night of April 26—27, the weather changed; the 
aa thermometer fell many degrees, and the inhabitants of Doc- | 

tor’s House perceived it from the cold which made its way be- 
neath their coverings; Altamont, who was watching the stove, 
er took care not to let the fire get low, and he was kept busy put- 
a ting on enough coal to keep the temperature at 50°. This cold 
3 weather announced the end of the storm, and the doctor was glad 
of it, for now they could resume their usual occupations, their 
hunting, excursions, 
‘ and explorations ; 
this would put an 
end to the apathy 
of their loneliness, 
which in time sours 
‘ even the finest char- 

acters. 
The next morn- 
ing the doctor rose 
early, aud made his 
way over the drifts 
4 to the lighthouse. 
a The wind was from 
. the north; the air 
was clear, the snow 
v was hard under his 

feet. Soon his five 
’ companions had left 
: Doctor’s House ; 
| their first care was 
me ot dig away the drifted snow, which now disguised the plateau ; it 





























































































































































































































































































































































































































82 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


would have been impossible to discover any traces of life upon it, for 
the tempest had buried all inequalities beneath fifteen feet of snow. 

After the snow was cleared away from the house, it was 
necessary to restore its architectural outline. This was very 
easy, and after the ice was removed a few blows with the snow- 
knife gave it its normal thickness. After two hours’ work the 
granite appeared, and access to the stores and the powder-house 
was free. But since, in these uncertain climates, such things can 
happen every day, a new supply of food was carried to the 
kitchen. They were all wearied of salt food and yearned for 
fresh meat, and so the hunters were charged with changing the 
bill of fare, and they prepared to set out. 
































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Still the end of April did not bring with it the polar spring, 
which was yet six weeks off; the sun’s rays were still too feeble 
to melt the snow or to nourish the few plants of these regions. 
They feared lest animals should be scarce, both birds and quad- 
rupeds. But a hare, a few ptarmigans, even a young fox, would 
have been welcome to the table of Doctor’s House, and the hunt- 
ers resolved to shoot whatever should come within range. 

The doctor, Altamont, and Bell determined to explore the 
country. Altament, they felt sure from his habits, was a bold 








a es a eh el a, “till = " — ~ 
* 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 83 





and skilful hunter, and, with all his bragging, a capital shot. So 
he went with the hunters, as did Duke, who was equally skilful 
- and less prone to boasting. 

The three companions ascended the east cone and set out 
towards the large white plains; but they had gone no farther 
than two or three miles before they saw numerous tracks; from 
that point, they ran down to the shore of Victoria Bay, and ap- 
peared to surround Fort Providence with a series of concentric 
circles. 

_ After they had followed these footprints for a short time, the 
doctor said, — 
% “Well, that is clear enough.” 





































































































































































































































































































































































































“Too clear,” said Bell ; “they are bear tracks.” 

“Good game,” continued Altamont, “ and there is only one 
fault in it to-day.” 

“ What’s that?” asked the doctor. 

“The abundance,” answered the American. 

“What do you mean?” asked Bell. 

“JT mean that there are distinct tracks of five bears ; and five 


bears are a good many for five men.” 
“ Are you sure of what you say 4 ” asked the doctor. 


» a = os a ot ae ee et a a 


cv oe 
2 Pa ah 
“ < 


84 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


“ Judge for yourself; this mark is different from any other; 
the claws on this one are farther apart than those. Here is the 
print of a smaller bear. If you compare them together, you ‘Il 
find traces of five animals.” 

“You are right,” said Bell, after a careful examination. 

“Then,” said the doctor, ‘‘ there is no need of useless bravado, 
but rather of caution ; these animals are famished at the end of a 
severe winter, and they may be very dangerous; and since there 
is no doubt of their number —” 

“Nor of their intentions,” interrupted the American. 

“Do you suppose,” he asked, “that they have discovered our 
presence here?” 

“Without a doubt, unless we’ve fallen on a whole band of 
bears ; but in that case, why do their prints go about in a circle, 
instead of running out of sight? See, they came from the south- 
west and stopped here, and began to explore the country.” 

“You are right,” said the doctor, ‘and it’s certain they came 
last night.” 

“And the other nights too,” answered Altamont ; “only the 
snow has covered their tracks.” 

“No,” said the doctor; ‘it’s more likely that they waited for 
the end of the storm; they went to the bay to catch some seals, 
and then they scented us.” 

“True,” said Altamont ; ‘(so it is easy to know whether they 
will return to-night.” 

“ How so?” asked Bell. 

“By rubbing out some of their tracks ; and if we find new ones 
to-morrow, we can be sure that they are trying to get into Fort 
Providence.” 

“Well,” said the doctor, “we shall at least know what to 
expect.” 

The three then set to work, and soon effaced all the tracks 
over a space of about six hundred feet. 

“Tt ’s strange, however,” said Bell, ‘that they could scent us 
at so great a distance; we did n’t burn anything greasy which 
could attract them.” 

“0,” answered the doctor, “they have very fine sight, and 










9S He ee .* f ros 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 85 


“delicate sense of smell! Besides, they are very intelligent, per- 
haps the most intelligent of animals, and they have found out 
something strange here.” 


“Perhaps,” continued Bell, “‘during the storm, they came up 
as far as the plateau.” 

“Then,” said the American, “why should they have stopped 
there ?” 

“True, there is no answer to that,” answered the doctor; “and 
we ought to believe that they are shortening the circle about 
Fort Providence.” 

“We shall see,” answered Altamont. 

“ Now, let us go on,” said the doctor ; “but we ’ll keep our eyes 
open.” 

They kept careful watch, through fear lest some bear should be 
hidden behind the masses of ice ; often they took the blocks for 
animals, from their shape and whiteness, but soon they discovered 
their mistake. 

They returned at last to the shore beneath the cone, and from 
there their eyes swept in vain from Cape Washington to Johnson 
Island. They saw nothing ; everything was white and motion- 
less ; not a sound was to be heard. They entered the snow-house. 

Hatteras and Johnson were informed of the condition of affairs, 
and they resolved to keep a strict watch. Night came; nothing 
occurred to alarm them, or to mar its beauty. At dawn the next 
morning, Hatteras and his companions, fully armed, went out to 
examine the condition of the snow ; they found the same tracks 
as on the previous day, only nearer. Evidently the enemy was 
preparing to lay siege to Fort Providence. 

“They have opened their second parallel,” said the doctor. 

“They have made a point in advance,” answered Altamont ; 
“see those footprints coming nearer the plateau ; they are those 
of some strong animal.” 

“Yes, they are gaining ground gradually,” said Johnson ; “ it is 
evident that they are going to attack us.” 

“There’s no doubt of that,” said the doctor ; “let us avoid 
showing ourselves. We are not strong enough to fight suc- 
cessfully.” 


bak a + r Se eS ta 


86 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


“But where do these devilish bears come from?” asked Bell. 

“Fyrom behind those pieces of ice to the east, where they are 
spying us; don’t let us get too near them.” 

“And our hunt $” asked Altamont. 

“Let us put it off for a few days,” answered the doctor; “let 
us again rub out these nearest marks, and to-morrow we shall see 
if they arerenewed. In this way we can see the manceuvres of 
our enemies.” 

The doctor’s advice was taken, and they returned to the fort ; 
the presence of these terrible beasts forbade any excursion. Strict 
watch was kept over the neighborhood of Victoria Bay. The 
lighthouse was dismantled ; it was of no real use, and might at- 
tract the attention of the animals; the lantern and the electric 
threads were carried to the house ; then they took turns in watch- 
ing the upper plateau. 

Again they had to endure the monotony of loneliness, but what 
else was to be done? They dared not risk a contest at so fearful 
odds; no one’s life could be risked imprudently. Perhaps the 
bears, if they caught sight of nothing, might be thrown off the 
track ; or, if they were met singly, they might be attacked suc- 
cessfully. However, this inaction was relieved by a new inter- 
est ; they had to keep watch, and no one regretted it. 

April 28th passed by without any sign of the existence of the 
enemy. The next morning their curiosity as to the existence of 
new tracks was succeeded by astonishment. Not a trace was to 
be seen ; the snow was intact. 

“Good,” shouted Altamont, “the bears are thrown off the 
track! They have no perseverance! They are tired of waiting, 
and have gone! Good by, and now off to the hunt!” 

“Eh!” answered the doctor, ‘‘who can say? For greater 
safety, my friends, I beg one more day of watching ; it is certain 
the enemy did not approach last night, at least from this side—” 

“Let us make a circuit of the plateau,” said Altamont, “and 
then we shall make sure.” 

“ Willingly,” said the doctor. 

But with all their care in exploration, not the slightest trace 
could be found. ; 












patiently. 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 87 


“Well, sball we start on our hunt?” asked Altamont, im- 


“Let us wait till to-morrow,” urged the doctor. 
“All right,” answered Altamont, who had some reluctance, 


_ however, about conceding. 
They returned to the fort. Each one had to watch for an hour, 


as on the previous 
~evening. When Al- 
tamont’s turn came, 
he went to relieve 
Bell. As soon as he 
-was gone, Hatteras 
called his compan- 
ions together. The 
doctor left his notes, 
and Johnson his fur- 
naces. It might have 
been supposed that 
Hatteras was going 
to discuss the dan- 
gers of the situa- 
tion; he did not 
even think of them. 

“My friends,” he 
said, “let us take 
advantage of the ab- 
sence of this Ameri- 
can, to talk over our 
















































































sera Zz 























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































affairs ; some things don’t concern him at all, and I don’t care to 


have him meddling with them.” 


The others looked at one another, uncertain of his meaning. 


“J want to speak with you,” he said, “about our future plans.” 


“Well,” answered the doctor, “let us talk now we are alone.” 


“Tn a month, or six weeks at the latest,” Hatteras began, “ we 
shall be able to make distant excursions. Had you thought of 
what might be done in the summer?” 

“Had you, Captain?” asked Johnson. 


16 


* 
re - 
we SS ee) 


88 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 






“T? I can say that not an hour passes without my mind’s 
recurring to my plan. I suppose no one of you has any thought 
of returning —” 

There was no immediate answer to this insinuation, -" 

“As for me,” continued Hatteras, “if I have to go alone, I | 
shall go to the North Pole ; we are only three hundred and sixty 
niles from it at the outside. No men have ever been so near it, 2 
and I shall not let such a chance go by without the attempt, 
even if it be impossible. What are your views in the matter?” 

“Your own,” answered the doctor. 

“And yours, Johnson?” 

“The same as the doctor’s,” 

“Tt is your turn to speak, Bell,” said Hatteras. 

“Captain,” answered the carpenter, “it is true we have no 
family awaiting us in England, but our country is our country : 
don't you think of going back ?” 

“We shall go back easily as soon as we shall have discovered 
the Pole. In fact, more easily. The difficulties will not increase, 
for, on our way thither, we leave behind us the coldest spots on 
the globe. We have supplies of all sorts for a long time. There : 
is nothing to hinder us, and we should be to blame if we did not 


answered the boatswain. q 


push on to the end.” 

“Well,” answered Bell, “ we are all of your opinion, Captain.” 

“Good!” replied Hatteras. ‘I have never doubted of you. 
We shall succeed, my friends, and England shall have all the 
glory of our success.” 

“ But there is an American with us,” said Johnson. 

Hatteras could not restrain a wrathful gesture at this remark. 

“T know it,” he said in a deep voice. 

“ We can’t leave him here,” continued the doctor. 

“No, we cannot,” answered Hatteras, coldly. 

* And he will certainly come.” 

“Yes, he will come, but who will command?” 

“You, Captain.” 

« And if you obey me, will this Yankee refuse to obey?” 

“T don’t think so,” answered Johnson ; “ but if he is unwilling 


’ 


to obey your orders —’ 





ad ee Cee ee erty ‘~~. a 






THE DESERT -OF ICE. 89 


- Tt would have to be settled between him and me.” 

The three Englishmen looked at Hatteras without a word. The 
doctor broke the silence. 
“ How shall we travel?” he asked. 


4 “By keeping along the coast as much as possible,” answered 
— Hatteras. 
; “ But if we find the sea open, as is likely?” s 


“Well, we shall cross it.” 
“How? We have no boat.” 
7 Hatteras did not answer; he was evidently embarrassed. 
~ “Perhaps,” suggested Bell, “ we might build a launch out of 
the timbers of the Porpoise.” 
“Never!” shouted Hatteras, warmly. 
5 “ Never?” exclaimed Johnson. 
The doctor shook his head; he understood the captain’s un- 
willingness. 
“Never!” the latter answered. ‘A launch made out of the 
__ wood of an American ship would be an American launch —” 

“But, Captain —” interposed Johnson. 

The doctor made a sign to the old boatswain to keep silent. 
A more suitable time was required for that question. The doctor, 
although he understood Hatteras’s repugnance, did not sympa- 
thize with it, and he determined to make his friend abandon this 
hasty decision. Hence he spoke of something else, of the possi- 
bility of going along the coast to the north, and that unknown 
point, the North Pole. In a word, he avoided all dangerous sub- 
jects of conversation up to the moment when it was suddenly 
ended by the entrance of Altamont. He had nothing new te re- 
port. The day ended in this way, and the night was quiet. The 
bears had evidently disappeared. 







Pt 


90 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


CHAPTER Xai 
THE ICE PRISON. 


Tue next day they determined to arrange the hunt, in which 
Hatteras, Altamont, and the carpenter were to take part; no 
more tracks were to be seen; the bears had decidedly given up 
their plan of attack, either from fear of their unknown enemies, 
or because there had been no sign of living beings beneath the 
mass of snow. During the absence of the three hunters, the 
doctor was to push on to Johnson Island to examine the condi- 
tion of the ice, and to make some hydrographic investigations. 
The cold was sharp, but they supported it well, having become 
accustomed to it by this time. The boatswain was to remain at 
Doctor's House ; in a word, to guard the house. 

The three hunters made their preparations; each one took a 
double-barrelled rifled gun, with conical balls; they carried a 
small quantity of pemmican, in case night should fall before 
their return ; they also were provided with the snow-knife, which 
is so indispensable in these regions, and a hatchet which they 
wore in their belts. Thus armed and equipped they could go 
far ; and since they were both skilled and bold, they could count 
on bringing back a good supply. 

At eight in the morning they set out. Duke sprang about 
ahead of them; they ascended the hill to the east, went about 
the lighthouse, and disappeared in the plains to the south, which 
were bounded by Mount Bell. The doctor, having agreed on a 
danger-signal with Johnson, descended towards the shore so as 
to reach the ice in Victoria Bay. ; 

The boatswain remained at Fort Providence alone, but not idle. — 
He first set free the Greenland dogs, which were playing about 
the Dog Palace; they in their joy rolled about in the snow. 
Johnson then gave his attentions to the cares of housekeeping. 
He had to renew the fuel and provisions, to set the stores in 





ae 


Se TE DESERT. OF ICE: 91 


order, to mend many broken utensils, to patch the coverings, 


to work over the shoes for the long excursions of the summer. 
There was no lack of things to do, but the boatswain worked 
with the ease of a 
sailor, who has gener- 
ally a smattering of 
all trades. While 
thus employed he 
began to think of the 
talk of the evening 
before ; he thought of 
the captain, and es- 
pecially of his obsti- 
nacy, which, after all, 
had something very heroic and very honorable about it, in his 
unwillingness that any American man or boat should reach the 
Pole before him, or even with him. 

“Still, it seems to me,” he said to himself, “no easy task to 
cross the ocean without a boat ; and if we have the open sea before 






































us, we should need one. The strongest Englishman in the world 
could n’t swim three hundred miles. Patriotism has its limits. 
Well, we shall see. We have still time before us; Dr. Claw- 
bonny has not yet said his last word in the matter; he is wise, 
and he may persuade the captain to change his mind. [Il bet 


that in going towards the island he'll glance at the fragments 


of the Porpoise, and will know exactly what can be made out of 
them.” 

Johnson had reached this point in his reflections, and the hunt- 
ers had been gone an hour, when a loud report was heard two 
or three miles to windward. 

“Good!” said the sailor; ‘they have come across something, 
and without going very far, for I heard them distinctly. After 
all, the air is so clear.” 

A second and then a third report was heard, 

“Hulloa!” continued Johnson, ‘‘ they ’ve got into a good 
place.” 

Three other reports, in quicker succession, were heard. 


92 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


“Six shots!” said Johnson; ‘now they’ve fired off every- 
thing. It was a hot time! Is it possible —” 

At the thought, Johnson grew pale; he quickly left the snow- 
house, and in a few moments he had run up to the top of the 
cone. He saw a sight that made him tremble. 

“The bears!” he shouted. 

The three hunters, followed by Duke, were running rapidly, 
followed by five enormous animals; their six bullets had not 
disabled them; the bears were gaining on them; Hatteras, be- 
hind the others, could only keep his distance from the animals 
by throwing away his cap, hatchet, and even his gun, The 
bears stopped, according to their habit, to sniff at the different 
objects, and lost a little on this ground on which they would 
have outstripped the swiftest horse. It was thus that Hatteras, 
Altamont, and Bell, all out of breath, came up to Johnson, and 
they all slid down the slope to the snow-house. The five bears 
were close behind, and the captain was obliged to ward off the 
blow of a paw with his knife. In a moment Hatteras and his 
companions were locked in the house. The animals stopped on 
the upper plateau of the truncated cone. 

“Well,” said Hatteras, “we can now defend ourselves better, 
five to five!” 

“Four to five!” shouted Johnson in a terrified voice. 

“What?” asked Hatteras. 

“The doctor!” answered Johnson, pointing to the empty 
room. 

“Well?” 

“He is on the shore of the island!” 

‘““Poor man!” cried Bell. 

“ We can’t abandon him in this way,” said Altamont. 

* Let us run!” said Hatteras. 

He opened the door quickly, but he had hardly time to shut 
it; a bear nearly crushed his skull with his claw. 

“They are there,” he cried. 

“ All?” asked Bell. 

** All!” answered Hatteras. 


Altamont hastened to the windows, heaping up the bays with = 


= Zo 





=e es oie > 









































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































———— == SSS = = = == 
<= 
— 
. 
o 



































































































































































































































































































































































s 
os 
wet 





SS AQ 


“ Hatteras could only keep his distance from the animals by throwing away his 
cap, hatchet, and even his gun,” — Page ge; 








ial 


ee 
fy 


he 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 93 


pieces of ice torn from the walls of the house. His companions 


did the same without speaking. Duke’s dull snarls alone broke 


the silence. 

But it must be said these men had only a single thought ; 
they forgot their own danger, and only considered the doctor. 
Poor Clawbonny! so kind, so devoted! the soul of the little 
colony! for the first time he was missing; extreme peril, a 
terrible death, awaited him ; for when his excursion was over he 
would return quietly to Fort Providence, and would find these 
ferocious animals. And there was no way of warning him. 

“Tf I’m not mis- 
taken, he will be on 
his guard; your shots 
must have warned 
him, and he must 
know something has 
happened.” 

“But if he were 
far off,” answered Al- 
tamont, “and did not 





understand? There 
are eight chances out of ten that he ’ll come back without suspi- 
cion of danger! The bears are hiding behind the scarp of the 
fort, and he can’t see them.” 

“We shall have to get rid of these dangerous beasts before 
his return,” answered Hatteras. 

“But how?” asked Bell. 

To answer this question was not easy. <A sortie seemed im- 
possible. They took the precaution to barricade the entrance, 
but the bears could easily have overcome the obstacles if the 
idea had occurred to them; they knew the number and strength 
of their adversaries, and they could easily have reached them. 
The prisoners were posted in each one of the chambers of Doc- 
tor’s House to watch for every attempt at entrance; when they 
listened, they heard the bears coming and going, growling, and 
tearing at the walls with their huge paws. But some action was 


necessary ; time was pressing. Altamont resolved to make a 
i7 


Bal nD alee 


O4 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS, 


Joop-hole to shoot the assailants; in a few minutes he had made 
a little hole in the ice-wall; he pushed his gun through it; but 
it had scarcely reached the other side before it was torn from 
his hands with irresistible force before he could fire. 


Hw yn 


me ill | | 




















Te) 
eo a.) i 
pp ADELA LE 





“The devil!” he cried, “we are too weak.” 

And he hastened to close the loop-hole. Thus matters went 
for an hour, without any end appearing probable. The chances 
of a sortie were discussed; they seemed slight, for the bears 
could not be fonght singly. Nevertheless, Hatteras and his 
companions, being anxious to finish it, and, it must be said, 
very much confused at being thus imprisoned by the beasts, 
were about to try a direct attack, when the captain thought of 
a new means of defence. 

He took the poker and plunged it into the stove; then he 
made an opening in the wall, but so as to keep a thin coating of 
ice outside. His companions watched him. When the poker 
was white hot, Hatteras said, — 

“This bar will drive away the bears, for they won’t be able to 
seize it, and through the loop-hole we will be able to fire at them, 
without their taking our guns away from us.” 

“A good idea!” cried Bell, going towards Altamont. 


~ 





THE DESERT OF ICE. 95 





Then Hatteras, withdrawing the poker from the stove, pushed 
it through the wall. The snow, steaming at its touch, hissed 
_- sharply. Two bears ran to seize the bar, but they roared fear- 
fully when four shots were fired at once. 
“ Hit!” shouted the American. 
“Hit!” repeated Bell. 
“Let us try again,” said Hatteras, closing the opening for a 
moment. 
The poker was put again into the fire; in a few minutes it was 
red hot. 
Altamont and Bell returned to their place after loading their 
guns; Hatteras again pushed the poker through the loop-hole. 


But this time an impenetrable substance stopped it. 


we, 


Tae 


t) 
b 






























































“Curse it!” cried the American. 

“What ’s the matter?” asked Johnson. 

“The matter! These cursed animals are heaping up the ice 

and snow so as to bury as alive!” 

“ Impossible ! ” 
_ “See, the poker can’t go through! Really, this is absurd!” 
| It was more than absurd, it was alarming. Matters looked 
_ Worse. The bears, which are very intelligent beasts, employed 


iors 





96 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


this method of suffocating their prey. They heaped the ice in 
such a way as to render flight impossible. 

“This is hard,” said Johnson, with a very mortified air. 
“Tt’s well enough to have men treat you in this way, but 
bears !” 

After this reflection two hours passed by without any material 
change in their situation ; a sortie became impossible ; the thick- 
ened walls deadened all sound without. Altamont walked to and 
fro like a bold man in face of a danger greater than his courage. 
Hatteras thought anxiously of the doctor, and of the great danger 
awaiting him when he should return. 


“Ah,” shouted Johnson, “if Dr. Clawbonny were only here!” 















































































































































“Well, what would he do?” asked Altamont. 
“OQ, he would be able to help us!” 


“How?” asked the American, with some asperity. 

“Tf T knew,” answered Johnson, “I should n’t want him here. 
Still, I can think of a piece of advice he would give us at this 
moment.” 

‘What is that?” 

“To take some food. It can’t hurt us. What do you think, 
Mir. Altamont ?” 






































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































AAMT ceca 
i |i Y fl i f 
ill 





























. 

: 

: "T'ne bears heaped the ice in such a way as to render flight impossible.’ 
+ Page 96. 

E 

i, 








15 


eat if "you care t to,” was Rice answer ; “ although 


: Ti bet,” nani Jj eee “that we ‘ll find some way of driving ie 
et them off after dinner.” 4 : am 
They made no reply, but sat down to dinner. Johnson, mete! 
npil of the doctor, tried to be a philosopher in the face of dan- 
ger, but he succeeded il] ; his jokes stuck in his throat. Besides, 
oar they began to feel qnesmiesribie: the air was growing bad in — 
Be ihis hermetically sealed prison ; the stove-pipe drew insulicien dee 
nd it was easy to see that a a short time the fire would go 
out; the oxygen, consumed by their lungs and the fire, would 
Rie peeficed by carbonic acid, which would be fatal to them, as 
- they all knew. Hatteras was the first to detect this new dan- 
_ ger; be was unwilling to hide it from the others. 
“So, at any risk we must get 
( mut | !” said Altamont. 
> “Yes,” answered Hatteras; 
“but let us wait till night; we 
will make a hole in the snow that 
we may get fresh air; then one 
shall take his place here and fire 
at the bears.” 
“Tt’s the only thing we can 
do,” said the American. 
_ Having agreed on this, they 
waited for the time of action ; and 
during the following hours, Alta- 
— mont. did not spare imprecations 
- against “a state of things in which, as he put it, “there being 
men and bears concerned, the men were getting the worst of it.” 





98 THE. ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


CHAP TER XPath 
THE MINE. 


Nicut came, and the lamp began to burn dimly in the close 
air of the room. At eight o’clock they made their final prepara- 
tions. The guns were carefully loaded, and an opening was begun 
in the roof of the snow-house. Bell worked cleverly at this for a 
few minutes, when Johnson, who had left the bedroom, where he 
was on guard, for a few minutes, returned rapidly to his eompan- 
ions. He seemed disturbed. 

“What is the matter?” the captain asked. 

“The matter? nothing!” answered the old sailor, hesitatingly, 
6c yet pach 

“What is it?” asked Altamont. 

“Hush! Don’t you hear a strange sound t” 

“On which side ?” 

“There! There is something happening to the wall of that 
room.” 

Bell stopped his work ; each one listened. A distant noise 
could be heard, apparently in the side wall; some one was evi- 
dently making a passage-way through the ice. 

“It’s a tearing sound!” said Johnson. 

“ Without a doubt,” answered Altamont. 

“The bears?” asked Bell. 

“Yes, the bears,” said Altamont. 

“They have changed their plan,” continued the sailor ; “they 
’ve given up trying to suffocate us.” 

“Or else they think they ’ve done it,” added the American, who 
was getting very angry. 

“We shall be attacked,” said Bell. 

“Well,” remarked Hatteras, ‘we shall fight against them.” 

“‘Confound it!” shouted Altamont; “I prefer that decidedly ! 
I’ve had enough working in the dark! Now we shall see one 


another and fight !” cu shail 
oe 






er 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 99 


in so small a space.” 

“Well, with a hatchet or a knife!” 

The noise increased ; the scratching of claws could be heard ; 
the bears had attacked the wall at the angle where it joimed the 
snow fastened to the rock.” 

“Evidently,” said Johnson, “the animal is within six feet of 
us.” 

“You are right, Johnson,” answered the American, “ but we 
have time to prepare ourselves to receive it!” 

The American took the axe in one hand, his knife in the other ; 
resting on his right foot, his body thrown back, he stood ready to 
attack. Hatteras and Bell did the same. Jehnson prepared his 
gun in case fire-arms should be necessary. The noise grew louder 


and louder ; the ice kept cracking beneath the repeated blows. ~ 


At last only a thin crust separated the adversaries; suddenly 
this crust tore asunder like paper through which a clown leaps, 
and an enormous black body appeared in the gloom of the room. 
Altamont raised his hand to strike it. 

“Stop! for heaven’s sake, stop!” said a well-known voice. 

“The doctor, the doctor!” shouted Johnson. 

It was indeed the doctor, who, carried by the impetus, rolled 
into the room. 

“Good evening, my friends,” he said, springing te his feet. 

His companions remained stupefied; but joy sueceeded their 
stupefaction ; each one wished to embrace the worthy man ; Hat- 
teras, who was much moved, clasped him for a Jong time to his 
breast. The doctor answered by a warm clasp of the hand. 

“What! you, Dr. Clawbonny!” said the boatswain. 

“Why, Johnson, f was much more anxious about your fate 
than you about mine.” 

“But how did you know that we were attacked by bears?” 
asked Altamont; ‘cour greatest fear was to see you returning 
quietly to Fort Providence without thought of danger.” 


“QO, I saw everything!” answered the doctor; ‘ your shots 
warned me ; I happened to be near the fragments of the Porpoise ; 


I climbed up a hummoek ; I saw five bears chasing you; ah, I 


g: 18 


“Yes,” answered Johnson ; “but with our guns it is impossible . 


Ooh eS 





100. THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS, 


feared the worst for you! But the way you slid down the hill, 
and the hesitation of the animals, reassured me for a time; I 
knew you'd had time to lock yourselves in. Then I approached 
gradually, climbing and creeping between cakes of ice; I arrived 
near the fort, and I saw the huge beasts working like beavers ; 
they were tossing the snow about, heaping up the ice so as to 
bury you alive. Fortunately, they did not think of hurling the 
blocks down from the top of the cone, for you would have been 
crushed without mercy.” 

“ But,” said Bell, “you were not safe, Doctor ; could n’t they 
leave their place and attack you?” 

“They did n’t think of it; the Greenland dogs which Johnson 
Jet loose would sniff around at a little distance, but they did n’t 
think of attacking them ; no, they were sure of better game.” 

“Thanks for the compliment,” said Altamont, smiling. 

““O, you need n’t be vain of it! When I saw the tactics of the - 
bears, I resolved to join you; to be prudent, I waited till night ; 
so at twilight I slipped noiselessly towards the slope, on the side 
of the magazine ; I had my own idea in choosing this point; I 
wanted to make a gallery; so I set to work; I began with my 
snow-knife, and a capital tool it is! For three hours I dug and 
dug, and here I am, hungry and tired, but here at last —” 

“To share our fate?” asked Altamont. 

“To save all of us; but give me a piece of biscuit and some 
meat; I’m half starved.” 

Soon the doctor was burying his white teeth in a large slice 
of salt beef. Although he was eating, he appeared willing to 
answer the questions they put to him. 

“To save us?” Bell began. 

“Certainly,” answered the doctor, “and to rid us of the mali- 
cious pests who will end by finding our stores and devouring 
them.” 

“We must stay here,” said Hatteras. 

“Certainly,” answered the doctor, ‘and yet rid ourselves of 
these animals.” 

“There is then a means ?”’ asked Bell. 

“A sure means,” answered the doctor. 


















































































































































































































































































































































“An enormous black body appeared in the gloom of the room. 


Altamont raised 
his hand to strike it.” — Page 99, 





THE DESERT OF ICE. 101 





“T said so,” cried Johnson, rubbing his hands ; “ with Dr. Claw- 
bonny, we need not despair ; he always has some invention handy.” 


” 





“Not always handy ; but after thinking for a while 

“Doctor,” interrupted Altamont, “can’t the bears get through 
the passage-way you cut?” 

“No, 1 took the precaution of closing it behind me; and now _ 
we can go from here to the powder-magazine without their sus- 
pecting it.” 

“Good! Will you tell us what means you intend to employ to 
rid us of these unpleasant visitors?” 

“Something very simple, and which is already half done.” 

* How so?” 

“You'll see. But I forgot I did n’t come alone.” 

“What do you mean?” 
asked Johnson. ; 

“J have a companion to in- 
troduce to you.” 

And with these words he 
pulled in from the gallery the 
newly killed body of a fox. 

“ A fox!” cried Bell. 

“My morning’s game,” an- 






swered the doctor, modestly, 
“and you 1] see no fox was ever 





wanted more than this one.” aa 
“But what is your plan, after SS a 
- . J plan, art we = = S Ap 
all?’ asked Altamont. oe 


“J intend to blow the bears up with a hundred pounds of 
powder.” . 

They all gazed at the doctor with amazement. 

“But the powder?” they asked. 

“Tt is in the magazine.” 

“And the magazine?” 

“This passage-way leads to it. I had my own reason for dig- 
ging this passage sixty feet long; I might have attacked the 
parapet nearer to the house, but I had my own idea.” 

“Well, where are you going to put the mine?” asked the 


 Avrican. 





102 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


“On the slope, as far as possible from the house, the magazine, 
and the stores.” 

‘But how shall you get all the bears together?” 

“T ll take charge of that,” answered the doctor; “but we ’ve 
talked enough, now to work ; we have a hundred feet to dig out 
‘to-night; it’s tiresome work, but we five can do it in relays. 


Beil shall begin, and meanwhile we can take some rest.” 

“Really,” said Johnson, “the more I think of it, the more I 
admire Dr. Clawbonny’s plan.” 

‘It’s sure,” answered the doctor. 

“O, from the moment you opened your mouth they are dead 
bears, and I already feel their fur about my shoulders !” 


{ 


“To work, then 















































The doctor entered the dark gallery, followed by Bell; where ; 
the doctor had gone through, his companions were sure to find no 
difficulty ; two reached the magazine and entered among the bar- 
rels, which were all arranged in good order. The doctor gave 
Bell the necessary instructions ; the carpenter hegan work on the 
wall towards the slope, and his companion returned to the house. 

Bell worked for an hour, and dug a passage about ten feet long, 
through which one might crawl. Then Altamont took his place, 


~ ? 4 v <0 i 
2 Se mils Cana 








Ng 


TH2 DESERT OF ICE. 103 


and did about as much; the snow which was taken from the gal- 
lery was carried into the kitchen, where the doctor melted it at 
the fire, that it might take up less room. The captain followed 
the American ; then came Johnson. In ten hours, that is to say, 
at about eight o'clock in the morning, the gallery was finished. 
At daybreak the doctor peeped at the bears through a loop-hole 
in the wall of the powder-magazine. 

The patient animals had not left their place ; there they were, 
coming and going, growling, but in general patrolling patiently ; 
they kept going around the house, which was gradually disap- 
pearing beneath the snow. But at lenyth they seemed to lose 
patience, for the doctor saw them begin to tear away the ice and 
snow they had heaped up. 

“Good!” he said to the captain, who was standing near 
him. 

“What are they doing?” he asked. 

“They seem to be trying to destroy what they have done and 
to get tous! But they ’ll be destroyed first! At any rate, there 
is no time to lose.” ‘ 

The doctor made his way to the place where the mine was to 
he laid; then he enlarged the chamber all the height and breadth 
of the slope; a layer of ice, only a foot thick at the outside, 
remained ; it had to be supported lest it should fall in. A stake 
resting on the granite soil served as a post ; the fox’s body was 
fastened to the top, and a long knotted cord ran the whole length 
of the gallery to the magazine. The doctor’s companions followed 
his orders without clearly understanding his intention. 

“This is the bait,” he said, pointing to the fox. 

At the foot cf the post he placed a cask holding about a hun- 
dred pounds of powder. 

“And here is the charge,” he added. 

“But,” asked Hatteras, ‘‘sha’n’t we blow ourselves up at the 
same time?” 

“No, we are far enough off from the explosion ; besides, our 
house is solid ; and if it is hurt a little we can easily repair it.” 

“Well,” continued Altamont; “but how are you going to set 


it off?” 


= 
ete i  % 


+34 


104 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


“This way. By pulling this cord we pull over the post which 


holds up the ice above the powder; the fox’s body will suddenly 
be seen on the slope, and you must confess that the starving ani- 
mals will rush upon this unexpected prey.” 

“Certainly.” 

“Well, at that moment I shall explode the mine, and blow up 
guest and dinner.” 


Samer ATTN ARAN TH 
MD 


Na 



































































































































































































































“Well, well!” exclaimed Johnson, who was listening eagerly. 

Hatteras had perfect confidence in his friend, and asked no 
question. He waited. But Altamont wanted it made perfectly 
clear. 

“Doctor,” he began, “how can you calculate the length of the 
fuse so exactly that the explosion will take place at the right 
moment ?” 

“Tt ’s very simple,” answered the doctor ; “I don’t make any 
calculation.” 

“But you have a fuse a hundred feet long?” 

BANG.” 

“Shall you set a train of powder simply ?” 

“No! that might fail.” 

“Will some one have to volunteer and light the powder?” 





THE DESERT OF ICE. 105 








“Tf you want any one,” said Johnson, eagerly, “I’m your 
man.” 

“It’s not necessary, my friend,” answered the doctor, grasping 
the boatswain’s hand; “our five lives are precious, and they will be 
spared, thank God!” 

“Then,” said the American, “I can’t guess.” 

« Well,” answered the doctor, smiling, ‘if we could n’t get out 
of this little affair, what would be the use of physics?” 

“Ah!” said Johnson, brightening up, “ physics !” 

“Yes! Haven't we here an electric pile and wires long 
enough, —those, you know, which connected with the light- 
house ¢” 

“Well?” 

“ Well, we shall explode the powder when we please, instantly, 
and without danger.” 

“ Hurrah !” shouted Johnson. 

“Hurrah!” repeated his companions, not caring whether the 
enemy heard them or not. Soon the electric wires were run 
through the gallery from the house to the chamber of the mine. 
One of the extremities remained at the pile, the other was 
plunged into the centre of the cask, the two ends being placed 
at but a little distance from one another. At nine of the morn- 
ing all was finished, and it was time; the bears were tearing the 
snow away furiously. The* doctor thought the proper time had 
come. Johnson was sent to the magazine and charged with pull- 
ing the cord fastened to the post. He took his place. 

“ Now,” said the doctor to his companions, “load your guns in 
ease they should not be all killed at once, and take your place 
neur Johnson ; as soon as you hear the explosion, run out.” 

“ All right !” said the American. 

“And now we have done all that men can do! We have 
helped ourselves; may God help us!” 

Hatteras, Altamont, and Bell went to the magazine. The doc- 
tor remained alone at the pile. Soon he heard Johnson’s voice 
crying, — 

“ Ready 1” 

“All right!” he answered. 

ly 


oe a — 









Pe ee een Sree 
bat iat be ual tt mi LON AN 


{OG THE ADVENTURES OF CAP 


za 





Si Saal sing ng 
TAIN HATTERA 








stake ; then he ran to the loop-hole and looked out. The surface 
of the slope had sunk in. he fox’s body was visible upon the 
shattered ice. ‘the bears, at first surprised, crowded about this Ee 
new prey. 
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































: ERAN - 


“Fire!” shouted Johnson. 

The doctor at once established the eleetric current between the 
threads ; a loud explosion followed; the house shook as if in an 
earthquake; the walls fell in. Hatteras, Altamont, and Bell e 
hastened out of the magazine, ready to fire. But their guns were e 
not needed; four of the five bears fell about them in fragments, — — 
while the fifth, badly burned, ran away as fast as he could. _ 

“WWurrah! hurrah! hurrah!” shouted the doctor’s companions, 
while they crowded about him and embraced him. 
































Page 106. 































































































































































































PAWN 






















































































A loud explosion followed. 


NN 












2o tok 





- pti he a ieee 
ee OF ICE. 





a 


pe 


CeCe T hh xX1y. 


iY 


THE POLAR SPRING. 


_ 


a 


THE prisoners were set free ; they expressed their joy by the 
warmth of their thanks to the doctor. Johnson regretted some- 
what the skins, which were burned and useless ; but his regret did 
not sour his temper. They spent the day in repairing the house, 
which was somewhat injured by the explosion. They took away 
the blocks heaped up by the animals, and the walls were made 
secure. They worked briskly, encouraged by the cheery songs 
of the boatswain. 

The next day the weather was much milder ; the wind changed 
suddenly, and the thermometer rose to +15°. So great a dif- 
ference was soon felt by both man and nature. The southerly 
wind brought with it the first signs of the polar spring. This 


* = vi ar he aes | ba Bla kd lo Mil bi 


I 


‘ 


PROS Ne eee ee Se Nr 


‘<> 
ot) 


PEAT a 


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: 
4 
3 
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Z 

} » 

a, 

- 

: 

a © 
‘ els 
<a % 
a ve 
e a 
- he 
: iy 
— “4 
2 x 





vy 






~ comparative warmth lasted for many days; the thermometer, 
_ sheltered from the wind, even rose as high as +31°, and there 


a Pie cf PC ad & eR enn doe Tn ac al RE ae? ae, ai or 


108 “THe ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HA TTERA 








were signs of a thaw. The ice began to crack; a fe spirts of — 
salt-water arose here and there, like jets in an English park; a 
few days later it rained hard. 

A dense vapor arose from the snow ; this was a good sign, and 
the melting of the immense masses anneal to be near at hand. — 
The pale disk of the sun grew brighter and drew longer spirals . 
above the horizon ; the night lasted scarcely three hours. Another 
similar symptom was the reappearance of some ptarmigans, arctie 3 
geese, plover, and flocks of quail; the air was soon filled with the 
deafening cries which they remembered from the previous sum- 
mer. <A few hares, which they were able to shoot, appeared on 
the shores of the bay, as well as the arctic mice, the burrows of 
which were like a honeycomb. The doctor called the attention = 
of his friends to the fact that these animals began to lose their 




















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































white winter plumage, or hair, to put on their summer dress ; they 
were evidently getting ready for summer, while their sustenance 
appeared in the form of moss, poppy, saxifrage, and thin grass. 
A new life was peering through the melting snows. But with 
the harmless animals returned the famished foes; foxes and wolves . 
arrived in search of their prey ; mournful howling sounded durmg 
the brief darkness of the nights. z 








ha sg Habra pnpeprast oreo? ey Nha ee. ee ele Gea 


‘THE DESERT OF ICE. 10y 
\ 


as 2 : The wolf of these countries is near of kin te the deg; like him, 

it barks, and often in such a way as to deceive the sharpest ears, 

those of the dogs themselves, for instance ; it is even said that 
they employ this device te attract dogs, and then eat them, 

This has been observed on the shores of Hudson’s Bay, and the 

doctor could confirm it at New America; Johnson took care net 
to let loose the dogs of the sledge, whe might have been destroyed 
in that way. As for Duke, he had seen too many of them, and 
he was too wise to be caught in any such way, 

During a fortnight they hunted a great deal; fresh food was 
abundant; they shot partridges, ptarmigans, and snow-birds, 
which were delicious eating. The hunters did not go far from 
Fort Providence. In fact, small game could almost be killed 
with a stick ; and it gave much animation to the silent shores of 
Victoria Bay,—an unaccustomed sight which delighted their 
eyes. 

The fortnight succeeding the great defeat ef the bears was 
taken up with different eccupatiens. The thaw advanced steadily; 


the thermometer rose te 32°, and torrents began to roar in 
3 f= 


‘the ravines, and thousands of cataracts fell down the declivities. 
The doctor cleared an acre of ground and sowed in it cresses, sor- 
rel, and cochlearia, which are excellent remedies for the seurvy ; 
the little greenish leaves were peeping above the ground when, 
with incredible rapidity, the cold again seized everything. 

In a single night, with a violent north-wind, the thermometer 
fell forty degrees, to —8°. Everything was frozen; birds, quad- 
rupeds, and seals disappeared as if by magic; the holes for the 
seals were closed, the crevasses disappeared, the ice became as hard 
as granite, and the waterfalls hung like long crystal pendants. 

It was a total change to the eye; it took place in the night of 
May 11-12. And when Bell the next morning put his nose out 
of doors into this sharp frost, he nearly left it there 

“O, this polar climate!” cried the doctor, a little disappointed ; 

_ “that’s the way it goes! Well, I shall have to begin sowing 
~- again.” 
3 Hatteras took things less philosophically, so eager was he to 
, renew his explorations. But he had to resign himself. 





a - 4 = sal ee 
¥1 Da acd 
as 


110 THE ALVENTUKES OF CaPTAIN HATTERAS. — 


“Will this cold weather last long?” asked Johnson. 


“No, my friend, no,” answered Clawbonny; ‘it’s the last 
touch of winter we shall have! You know it’s at home here, and 
we can’t drive it away against its will.” 

“It defends itself well,” said Bell, rubbing his face. 






























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“Yes, but I ought to have expected it,” said the doctor; “ and 
T should not have thrown the seed away so stupidly, especially 
since I might have started them near the kitchen stove.” 

“What!” asked Altamont, “could you have foreseen this 
change of weather?” 

“Certainly, and without resorting to magic. I ought to have 
put the seed under the protection of Saints Mamert, Panera, and 
Servais, whose days are the 11th, 12th, and 13th of this month.” 

“Well, Doctor,” said Altamont, “ will you tell me what infiu- 
ence these three saints have on the weather?” 

“A very great influence, to believe gardeners, who call them 
the three saints of ice.” 

“ And why so, pray?” 

“Because generally there is a periodic frost in the month of 
May, and the greatest fall of temperature takes place from the 
llth to the 13th of this month. It is a fact, that is all.” 











THE DESERT OF ICE. 111 


“Tt is curious, but what is the explanation?” asked the American. 
“There are two: either by the interposition of a greater num- 
ber of asteroids between the earth and the sun at this season, or 
simply by the melting of the snow, which thereby absorbs a great 
quantity of heat. Both explanations are plausible ; must they 
be received? I don’t know; but if I’m uncertain of the truth 
of the explanation, I ought not to have been of the fact, and so 
lose my crop.” 

The doctor was right; for one reason or another the cold was 
very intense during the rest of the month of May; their hunting 
was interrupted, not so much by the severity of the weather as 
by the absence of game; fortunately, the supply of fresh meat 
was not yet quite exhausted. They found themselves accordingly 
condemned to new inactivity; for a fortnight, from the 11th to 
the 25th of May, only one incident broke the monotony of their 
lives ; a serious illness, diphtheria, suddenly seized the carpenter ; 
from the swollen tonsils and the false membrane in the throat, 
the doctor could not be ignorant of the nature of the disease ; 
but he was in his element, and he soon drove it away, for evidently 
it had not counted on meeting him; his treatment was very 
simple, and the medicines were not hard to get; the doctor 
simply prescribed pieces of ice to be keld in the mouth; in a few 
hours the swelling went down and the false membrane disap- 
peared ; twenty-four hours later Bell was up again. 

When the others wondered at the doctor’s prescriptions : 
“This is the land of these complaints,” he answered; “the 
cure must be near the disease.” 

“The cure, and especially the doctor,” added Johnson, in whose 
mind the doctor was assuming colossal proportions. 

During this new leisure the latter resolved to have a serious 
talk with the captain ; he wanted to induce Hatteras to give up 
his intention of going northward without carrying some sort of a 
boat ; a piece of wood, something with which he could cross an 
arm of the sea, if they should meet one. ‘The captain, who was 
fixed in his views, had formally vowed not to use a boat made of 
the fragments of the American ship. The doctor was uncertain 


how to broach the subject, and yet a speedy decision was impor- 
20 


om ~ ” y Gre eg | Fema aaa 


112. HE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


tant, for the month of June would be the time for distant excur- 


sions. At last, after long reflection, he took Hatteras aside one 
day, and with his usual air of kindness said to him, — 

“ Hatteras, you know I am your friend?” 

“Certainly,” answered the captain, warmly, ‘‘my best friend ; 
indeed, my only one.” 

“Tf I give you a picce of advice,” resumed the doctor, “advice 
which you don’t ask for, would you consider it disinterested ?” 

“Yes, for I know that selfish interest has never been your 
guide; but what do you want to say?” 

“One moment, Hatteras ; I have something else to ask of you: 
Do you consider me a true Englishman like yourself, and eager 
for the glory of my country ?” 

Hatteras looked at the doctor with surprise. 

“Yes,” he answered, with his face expressing surprise at the 
question. 

“You want to reach the North Pole,” resumed the doctor; “I 
understand your ambition, I share it, but to reach this end we 
need the means.” 

‘Well, have n’t I so far sacrificed everything in order to 
sueceed !” 

“No, Hatteras, you have not sacrificed your personal preju- 
dices, and at this moment I sce that you are ready to refuse the 
indispensable means of reaching the Pole.” 

“Ah!” answered Hatteras, “you mean the launch; this 

“man —” 

“Come, Hatteras, let us argue coolly, without passion, and 
look at all sides of the question. The line of the coast on which 
we have wintered may be broken; there is no proof that it runs 
six degrees to the north; if the information which has brought 
you so far is right, we ought to find a vast extent of open sea 
during the summer months. Now, with the Arctic Ocean before 
us, free of ice and favorable for navigation, what shall we do if we 
lack the means of crossing it 1” 

Hatteras made no answer. 

“Do you want to be within a few miles of the Pole without 
Leing able to reach it ?” 





., 
P: 








~ 





Fie OEE ee age Seg Ot ; 
ae THE DESERT OF ICE. ss 113 


‘Hatteras’s head sank into his hands. 

“ And now,” continued the doctor, ‘let us look at the question 
from a moral point of view. I can understand that an English- 
‘man should give up bis life and his fortune for the honor of his 

, country. But because a boat made of a few planks torn from a 


wrecked American ship first touches the coast or crosses the un- 


known ocean, can that diminish the honor of the discovery? If 
you found on this shore the hull of an abandoned ship, should 
you hesitate to make use of it? Doesn't the glory of success belong 
to the head of the expedition? And I ask you if this launch built 
by four Englishmen, manned by four Englishmen, would not be 
English from keel to gunwale?” 

Hatteras was still silent. 

“No,” said Clawbonny, “let us talk frankly ; it’s not the boat 
you mind, it’s the man.” 

“Yes, Doctor, yes,’ answered the captain, “that American; I 
hate him with real English hate, that man thrown in my way 
by chance —” 

“To save you!” 

“To ruin me! He seems to defy me, to act as master, to 
imagine he holds my fate in his hands, and to have guessed 
my plans. Didn't he show his character when we were giving 
names to the new lands? Has he ever said what he was doing 
here? You can’t free me of the idea which is killing me, that 
this man is the head of an expedition sent out by the government 
of the United States.” : 

“And if he is, Hatteras, what is_-there to show that he is in 
search of the Pole? Can’t America try to discover the North- 
west Passage as well as England? At any rate, Altamont is 
perfectly ignorant of your plans; for neither Johnson nor Bell 
nor you nor | has said a single word about them in his pres- 
ence.” 

“Well, I hope he’ll never know them !” 

“He will know them finally, of course, for we can’t leave him 
alone here.” 

“Why not?” asked the captain, with some violence; ‘can’t 
he remain at Fort Providence?” 


r 


o Seca 


Eh Owen <n 


~ 


by 


= SR 8 pean hays oe oh a ee ee 


114 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


“He would never give his consent, Hatteras; and then to | 
leave him here, uncertain of finding him again, would be more— 
than imprudent, it would be inhuman. Altamont will come with 
us; he must come! But since there is no need of suggesting new 
ideas to him, let us say nothing, and build a launch apparently 
for reconnoitring these new shores.” ‘ 

Hatteras could not make up his mind to accede to the demands 
of his friend, who waited for an answer which did not come. 

‘“‘ And if he refused to let us tear his ship to pieces!” said the 
captain, finally. 

“In that case, you would have the right on your side; you 
could build the boat in spite of him, and he could do nothing 
about it.” : 

“T hope he will refuse,” exclaimed Hatteras. 

“Before he refuses,” answered the doctor, ‘he must be asked. 
I will undertake to do it.” 7 

In fact, that evening, before supper, Clawbonny turned the 
conversation to certain proposed expeditions in the summer 
months for hydrographic observations. 

“‘T suppose, Altamont,” he said, ‘‘ that you will join us?” 

‘Certainly,’ was the reply; ‘‘we must know how large New 
America is.” 

Hatteras gazed earnestly at his rival while he made his answer. 

“And for that,” continued Altamont, “we must make the 
best use we can of the fragments of the Porpowe; let us make 
a strong boat which can carry us far.” 

“You hear, Bell,’ said the doctor, quickly ; “to-morrow we 
shall set to work.” 


CHAP T ERY, 
THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE. 


Tur next day Bell, Altamont, and the doctor went to the 
Porpoise; they found no lack of wood; the old three-masted 
launch, though injured by being wrecked, could still supply 












































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































, 


“he carpenter set to work at once.’ 








paee As Fe > ow - od cs ate ee eS , =e 





THE DESERT OF ICE. tis 


abundant material for the new one. The carpenter set to work 
at once; they needed a seaworthy boat, which should yet be 
light enough to carry on a sledge. Towards the end of May 
the weather grew warmer; the thermometer rose above the 
_freezing-point ; the spring came in earnest this time, and the 
men were able to lay aside their winter clothing. Much rain 
fell, and soon the snow began to slide and melt away. Hatteras 
could not hide his joy at seeing the first signs of thaw in the 
ice-fields. The open sea meant liberty for him. 













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Whether or not his predecessors had been wrong on this great 
question of an open polar sea, he hoped soon to know. Al 
chance of success in his undertaking depended on this. Oue 
evening, after a warm day in which the ice had given unmistak- 
able signs of breaking up, he turned the conversation to the 
question of an open sea. He teok up the familiar arguments, 
and found the doctor, as ever, a warm advocate of his doctrine. 
Besides, his conclusions were evidently accurate. 

“Tt is plain,” he said, “that if the ocean before Victoria Bay 
gets clear of ice, its southern part will also be clear as far as 
New Cornwall and Queen’s Channel. Penny and Belcher saw 
it in that state, and they certainly saw clearly.” 


A! 
Pa —' 


116 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


“T agree with you, Hatteras,” answered the doctor, “and I 
have no reason for doubting the word of these sailors; a vain 
attempt has been made to explain their discovery as an effect 
of mirage; but they were so certain, it was impossible that they 
could have made such a mistake.” 

“T always thought so,” said Altamont; ‘‘the polar basin ex- 
tends to the east as well as to the west.” 

“ We can suppose so, at any rate,” answered Hatteras. 

“We ought to suppose so,” continued the American, “ for this 
open sea which Captains Penny and Belcher saw near the coast 
of Grinnell Land was seen by Morton, Kane’s lieutenant, in the 
straits which are named after that bold explorer.” 

“‘We are not in Kane’s sea,” answered Hatteras, coldly, “and 
consequently we cannot verify the fact.” 

“Tt is supposable, at least,” said Altamont. 

“Certainly,” replied the doctor, who wished to avoid useless 
discussion. ‘What Altamont thinks ought to be the truth; 
unless there is a peculiar disposition of the surrounding land, 
the same effects appear at the same latitudes. Hence I believe 
the sea is open in the east as well as in the west.” 

“ At any rate, it makes very little difference to us,” said Hat- 
teras. 

“T don’t agree with you, Hatteras,” resumed the American, 
who was beginning to be annoyed by the affected unconcern of 
the captain ; “it may make considerable difference to us.” 

“And when, if I may ask?” 

“When we think of returning.” 

“Returning!” cried Hatteras, ‘and who’s thinking of that ?” 

“No one,” answered Altamont ; ‘‘ but we shall stop somewhere, 
IT suppose.” 

“And where?” asked Hatteras. 

For the first time the question was fairly put to Altamont. 
The doctor would have given one of his arms to have put a stop 
to the discussion. Since Altamont made no answer, the captain 
repeated his question. 

“And where?” 


“ Where we are going,” answered the American, quietly. 








: 
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1 
¥ 


4 


oO SET ae eae - = st ae 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 117 





“ And who knows where that is?” said the peace-loving doctor. 
“T say, then,” Altamont went on, ‘‘that if we want to make 
use of the polar basin in returning, we can try to gain Kane’s 
sea ; it will lead us more directly to Baffin’s Bay.” 

“So that is your idea?” asked the captain, ironically. 

“Yes, that is my idea, as it is that if these seas ever become 
practicable, they will be reached by the straightest way. O, that 
was a great discovery of Captain Kane’s!” 

“Indeed!” said Hatteras, biting his lips till they bled. 

“Yes,” said the doctor, “that cannot be denied ; every one 
should have the praise he deserves.” 

“Without considering,” went on the obstinate American, “that 
no one had ever before gone so far to the north.” 

“JT like to think,” said Hatteras, “that now the English have 
got ahead of him.” 

“ And the Americans!” said Altamont. 

“ Americans !” repeated Hatteras. 

“What am I, then?” asked Altamont, proudly. 

“You are,” answered Hatteras, who could hardly control his 
voice, — “‘you are a man who presumes to accord equal glory to 
science and to chance! Your American captain went far to the 
north, but as chance alone —” ; 

“Chance!” shouted Altamont ; “do you dare to say that this 
great discovery is not due to Kane’s energy and knowledge?” 

“JT say,” answered Hatteras, “that Kane’s name is not fit to 
be pronounced in a country made famous by Parry, Franklin, 
Ross, Belcher, and Penny in these seas which opened the North- 
west Passage to MacClure —” 


’ 


“MacClure!” interrupted the American ; “you mention that 
man, and yet you complain of the work of chance? Wasn't it 
chance alone that favored him?” 

“ No,” answered Hatteras, warmly, —“no! It was his courage, 
his perseverance in spending four winters in the ice —” 

“T should think so!” retorted the American; “he got caught 
in the ice and could n’t get out, and he had to abandon the 
Investigator at last to go back to England,” 


“My friends —” said the doctor. 
21 


118 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


“ Besides,’ Altamont went on, “let us consider the result. 
You speak of the Northwest Passage; well, it has yet to be 
discovered !” 

Hatteras started at these words; no more vexatious question 
could have arisen between two rival nationalities. The doctor 
again tried to intervene. 

“You are mistaken, Altamont,” he said. 

“No, I persist in my opinions,” he said obstinately ; “the 
Northwest Passage is yet to be found, to be sailed through, if 
you like that any better! MacClure never penetrated it, and 
to this day no ship that has sailed from Behring Strait has 
reached Baffin’s Bay!” 

That was true, speaking exactly. What answer could be made? 

Nevertheless, Hatteras rose to his feet and said, — 

“T shall not permit the good name of an English captain to 
be attacked any further in my presence.” 

“You will not permit it?” answered the American, who also 
rose to his feet; “but these are the facts, and it is beyond your 
power to destroy them.” 

“Sir!” said Hatteras, pale with anger. 

“My friends,” said the doctor, “don’t get excited! We are 
discussing a scientific subject.” 

Clawbonny looked with horror at a scientific discussion into 
which the hate of an American and an Englishman could enter. 

“T am going to give you the facts,” began Hatteras, threaten- 
ingly. 

“But I’m speaking now !” retorted the American. 

Johnson and Bell became very uneasy. 

“ Gentlemen,” said the doctor, severely, “let me say aword! I 
insist upon it, I know the facts as well, better than you do, and 
I can speak of them impartially.” 

“Yes, yes,” said Bell and Johnson, who were distressed at the 
turn the discussion had taken, and who formed a majority favor- 
able to the doctor. 

“Go on, Doctor,” said Johnson, “ these gentlemen will listen, 
and you cannot fail to give us some information.” 

‘Go on, Doctor,” said the American. 
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“ A hard struggle with the icebergs,’’ — Page 120, 
































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































THE DESERT OF ICE. 119 


Hatteras resumed his place with a sign of acquiescence, and 
folded his arms. 

“T will tell the simple truth about the facts,” said the doctor, 
“and you must correct me if I omit or alter any detail.” 

“We know you, Doctor,” said Bell, ‘and you can speak without 
fear of interruption.” 

“Here is the chart of the Polar Seas,” resumed the doctor, 
who had brought it to the table; “it will be easy to trace Mac- 
Clure’s course, and you will be able to make up your minds for ° 
yourselves.” 

Thereupon he unrolled one of the excellent maps published by 
order of the Admiralty, containing the latest discoveries in arctic 
regions ; then he went on : — 

“You know, in 1848, two ships, the Herald, Captain Kellet, 
and the Plover, Commander Moore, were sent to Behring Strait in 
search of traces of Franklin; their search was vain; in 1850 
they were joined by MacClure, who commanded the /nvestigator, 
a ship in which he had sailed, in 1849, under James Ross’s orders. 
He was followed by Captain Collinson, his chief, who sailed in 
the Enterprise ; but he arrived before him. At Behring Strait he 
declared he would wait no longer, and that he would go alone, on 
his own responsibility, and — you hear me, Altamont — that he 
would find either Franklin or the passage.” 

Altamont showed neither approbation nor the contrary. 

“August 5, 1850,” continued the doctor, “after a final com- 
munication with the Plover, MacClure sailed eastward by an al- 
most unknown route; see how little land is marked upon the 
chart. August 30th he rounded Cape Bathurst ; September 6th 
he discovered Baring Land, which he afterwards discovered to 
form part of Banks Land, then Prince Albert’s Land. Then he 
resolved to enter the long straits between these two large islands, 
and he called it Prince of Wales Strait. You can follow his plan. 
He hoped to come out in Melville Sound, which we have just 
crossed, and with reason; but the ice at the end of the strait 
formed an impassable barrier. There MacClure wintered in 1850- 
51, and meanwhile he pushed on over the ice, to make sure 
that the strait connected with the sound.” 


biess 


120 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. — 


“ Yes,” said Altamont, “but he did n’t succeed.” 

“One moment,” said the doctor. ‘* While wintering there, Mac- 
Clure’s officers explored all the neighboring coasts: Creswell, 
Baring’s Land ; Haswell, Prince Albert’s Land, to the south; and 
Wynuniat, Cape Walker, to the north. In July, at the beginning 
of the thaw, MacClure tried a second time to carry the Jnvesti- 
gator to Melville Sound ; he got within twenty miles of it, twenty 
miles only, but the winds carried him with irresistible force to the 
south, before he could get through the obstacle. Then he deter- 
mined to go back through Prince of Wales Strait, and go around 
Banks Land, to try at the west what he could not do in the east; 


he put about ; the 18th he rounded Cape Kellet; the 19th, Cape — 


Prince Alfred, two degrees higher; then, after a hard struggle 
with the icebergs, he was caught in Banks Strait, in the series 
of straits leading to Baffin’s Bay.” 

“But he could n’t get through them,” said Altamont. 

“Wait a moment, and be as patient as MacClure was. Sep- 
tember 26th, he took his station for the winter in Mercy Bay, and 
stayed there till 1852. April came; MacClure had supplies for 
only eighteen months. Nevertheless, he was unwilling to return ; 
he started, crossing Banks Strait by sledge, and reached Melville 
Tsland. Let us follow him. He hoped to find here Commander 
Austin’s ships, which were sent to meet him by Baffin’s Bay and 
Lancaster Sound; April 28th he arrived-at Winter Harbor, at 
the place where Parry had wintered thirty-three years previously, 
but no trace of the ships; only he found in a cairn a paper, telling 
him that MacClintock, Austin’s lieutenant, had been there the 
year before, and gone away. Any one else would have been in 
despair, but MacClure was not. He put in the cairn another 
paper, in which he announced his intention of returning to Eng- 
land by the Northwest Passage, which he had discovered by 
reaching Baftin’s Bay and Lancaster Sound. If he is not heard 
from again, it will be because he will have been to the north or 
west of Melville Island; then he returned, not discouraged, to 
Mercy Bay for the third winter, 1852-53.” 

“T have never doubted his courage,” said Altamont, “but his 
success.” . 








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roe ae se ates 























































































































































































































; MacClure saw a man running and gesticulating. — Page 121. 












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a 


Lh Bt, ied a te ee a es - eal ee ~ ‘ > ee 
> ot ee a's r a re : k 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 121 


“Let us follow him again,” resumed the doctor. “In the month 
+ of March, being on two-thirds rations, at the end of a very severe 


winter, when no game was to be had, MacClure determined to 
send back half of his crew to England, either by Baffin’s Bay, or 
by Mackenzie River and Hudson’s Bay ; the other half was to 
bring the Znvestigator back. He chose the weakest men, who 
could not stand a fourth winter; everything was ready, and their 
departure settled for April 15th, when on the 6th, MacClure, who 
was walking on the ice with his lieutenant, Creswell, saw a man 
running northward and gesticulating ; it was Lieutenant Pim of 
the Herald, lieutenant of the same Captain Kellet whom two 
years before he had left at Behring Strait, as I said when I began. 
Kellet, having reached Winter Harbor, found the paper left there 
by MacClure ; having heard in that way of his position in Merey 
Bay, he sent Lieutenant Pim to meet the captain. He was fol- 
lowed by a detachment of the men of the Herald, among whom 
was a midshipman of a French ship, M. de Bray, who was a 
volunteer aid of Captain Kellet. You don’t doubt this meet- 
ing?” 

“Not at all,” answered Altamont. 

“Well, see what followed, and whether the Northwest Passage 
was really made. If you join Parry’s discoveries to those of Mae- 
Clure, you will see the northern coast of America was rounded.” 

“But not by a single ship,” said Altamont. 

“No, but by a single man. Let us go on. MacClure went to 
see Captain Kellet at Melville Island; in twelve days he made 
the one hundred and seventy miles between Winter Harbor and 
the island ; he agreed with the commander of the //erald to send 
him his sick, and returned ; many others would have thought, 
had they been in MacClure’s place, that they had done enough, 
but this bold young man determined to try his fortune again. 
Then, and please observe this, Lieutenant Creswell, with the sick 
and disabled men of the Jnvestigator, left Mercy Bay, reached 
Winter Harbor, and from there, after a journey of four hundred 
and seventy miles on the ice, reached Beechey Island, June 2d, 
and a few days later, with twelve of his men, he took passage on 


board of the Phenix.” 
b+ 


Re OT SI. Saas OF ses a a ew ‘=f 
es SES iba oF rt Lk 


29) THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


“In which I was at the time,” said Johnson, “ with Captain 
Inglefield, and we returned to England.” 

“And October 7, 1853,” continued the doctor, “ Creswell 
arrived at London, after having crossed over the whole distance 
between Behring Strait and Cape Farewell.” 

“Well,” said Hatteras, “to enter at one end and go out by 
the other, isn’t that going through?” 

“Yes,” answered Altamont, “but by going four hundred and 
seventy miles over the ice.” 

“Well, what difference does that make ?” 

“The whole,” answered the American. ‘ Did MacClure’s ship 
make the passage ?” 

“No,” answered the doctor, ‘for after a fourth winter, Mac- 
Clure was obliged to leave it in the ice.” 

“Well, in a sea-voyage it’s important to have the ship reach 
her destination. If the Northwest Passage ever becomes practi- 
cable, it must be for ships and not for sledges. The ship must 
accomplish the voyage, or if not the ship, the launch.” 

“The launch!” shouted Hatteras, who detected the hidden 
meaning in the American’s words. 

“ Altamont,” said the doctor, hurriedly, ‘you make a puerile 
distinction, and we all consider you wrong.” 

“That is easy, gentlemen,” answered the American; ‘you are 
four to one. But that won't keep me from holding my own 
opinion.” 

“Keep it,” said Hatteras, “and so closely that we need hear 
nothing about it.” 

“And what right have you to speak to me in that way?” 
asked the American in a rage. 

“My right as captain,” answered Hatteras. 

“Am T under your commands?” retorted Altamont. 

“ Without doubt, and look out for yourself, if —” 

The doctor, Johnson, and Bell intervened. It was time ; the 
two enemies were gazing at one another. The doctor was very 
anxious. Still, after a few gentler words, Altamont went off to 
bed whistling ‘‘ Yankee Doodle,” and, whether he slept or not, he 
did not speak. Hatteras went out and paced up and down for an 


hour, and then he turned in without saying a word. ig . 




































if 


Why 


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the two enemies 


tell intervened. It was time; 


1 


The doctor, Johnson, 





A ee ile een en Sk Oe ee n. 


THE DESERT OF ICE. i) Se 





CHAPTER- XVI. 


NORTHERN ARCADIA. 


. 


On May 29th, for the first time, the sun did not set ; it merely 
touched the horizon and then rose at once; the day was twenty- 
four hours long. The next day it was surrounded by a magnifi- 
cent halo, a bright circle with all the colors of the prism; this 
apparition, which was by no means rare, always attracted the 
doctor’s attention; he never failed to note the date and appear- 
ance of the phenomenon ; the one he saw on that day was of an 
elliptic shape, which he had seldom seen before. 




























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Soon the noisy flocks of birds appeared; bustards and wild 
geese came from Florida or Arkansas, flying northward with in- 
conceivable rapidity and bringing the spring with them. The doc- 
tor shot a few, as well as three or four cranes and a single stork. 
However, the snow was melting everywhere beneath the sun; the 
salt-water, which overran the ice-ficld through the crevasses and 
the seal-holes, hastened the melting; the ice which was mingled 


Bick id , ate 








x 


Tos THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. $ 


with salt-water formed a soft slush. Large pools appeared on the : 


land near the bay, and the exposed soil seemed to be a production 
of the arctic spring. 

The doctor then resumed his planting ; he had plenty of seed ; 
besides, he was surprised to see & sort of sorrel growing naturally 
between the dried rocks, and he wondered at the force of nature 
which demanded so little in order to manifest itself. He sowed 
some cresses, of which the young sprouts, three weeks later, were 
already an inch long. 

The heath began to show timidly its little pale, rosy flowers. 
In fact, the flora of New America is very defective ; still, this rare 
vegetation was agreeable to their eyes; it was all the feeble rays 
of the sun could nourish, a trace of the Providence which had not 
completely forgotten these distant countries. At last it became 
really warm; June 15th the thermometer stood at 57°; the doc- 
tor could hardly believe his eyes; the country changed its ap- 
pearance ; numerous noisy cascades fell from the sunny summits 
of the hills; the ice loosened, and the great question of an open 
sea would soon be decided. The air was full of the noise of ava- 
lanches falling from the hills to the bottom of the ravines, and 
the cracking of the ice-field produced a deafening sound. 

A trip was made to Johnson Island; it was merely an unim- 
portant, arid, barren island; but the old boatswain was no less 
proud of giving his name to a few desolate rocks. He even 
wanted to carve it on a high peak. During this excursion, 
Hatteras had carefully explored these lands, even beyond Cape 
Washington ; the melting of the snow sensibly changed the coun- 
-try; ravines and hillocks appeared here and there, where the 
snow indicated nothing but monotonous stretches. The house 
and magazines threatened to melt away, and they had fiequently 
to be repaired ; fortunately, a temperature of 57° is rare in these 
latitudes, and the mean is hardly above the freezing-point. 

By the middle of June the launch was far advanced and getting 
into shape. While Bell and Johnson were working at it, the 
others had a few successful hunts. Reindeer were shot, although 
they are hard to approach; but Altamont put in practice a de- 


vice employed by the Indians of his own country; he crept over __ 


e 


oS a enre” eo, Sew er be 





a. 















EP ae eee ee! FP es 70 a. ee 


“4 - 
See. 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 125 


the ground with his gun and arms outstretched like the horus of 
one of these shy animals, and having thus come within easy gun: 
shot, he could not fail. 

But the best game, the musk-ox, of which Parry found plenty 
at Melville Island, appeared not to frequent the shores of Victo- 
ria Bay. A distant hunt was determined on, as much to get 
these valuable animals as to reconnoitre the eastern lands. Hat- 
teras did not propose to reach the Pole by this part of the conti- 
nent, but the doctor was not sorry to get a general idea of the 
country. Hence they decided to start to the east of Fort 
Providence. Altamont intended to hunt; Duke naturally 
was of the party. 

























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































So, Monday, June 17th, a pleasant day, with the thermometer 
ut 41°, and the air quiet and clear, the three hunters, each carry- 
ing a double-barrelled gun, a hatchet, a snow-knife, and followed 
by Duke, left Doctor’s House at six o’clock in the morning. They 
were fitted out for a trip of two or three days, with the requisite 
amount of provisions. By eight o'clock Hatteras and his two 

companions had gone eight miles. Not a living thing had 
tempted a shot, and their hunt threatened to be merely a trip. 

This new country exhibited vast plains running out of sight ; 


Ry eye ARE Oe ya al AP ORL ER PE ae Mi TOR ore amare 







126 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. ees 
new streams divided them everywhere, and large, unrufiled pools — 
reflected the sun. The layers of melting ice bared the ground — 
to their feet; it 
belonged to the 
great division of 
sedimentary earth, 
and the result of | 
the action of the 
water, which is so 






































































































































































































































































































































WOO 
ANY 


\ 
\\ 













































































AN 





























N\ 

























































































































































































































































































common on_ the 4 
surface of the i 
globe. Still a few 4 
erratic blocks were : 
seen of a singular ; 
nature, foreign to “a 
the soil where they 2 
were found, and r 
whose presence it 3 

















was hard to ex- 
plain. Schists 
and different pro- 
ductions of lime- 
stone were found 
in abundance, as 
was also a sort of strange, transparent, colorless crystal, which has 
a refraction peculiar to Iceland spar. 

But, although he was not bunting, the doctor had not time to 
geologize; he had to walk too quickly, in order to keep up with 
his friends. Still, he observed the land and talked as much as pos- 
sible, for had he not there would have been total silence in the 
little band; neither Altamont nor the captain had any desire to 
talk to one another. 

By ten o'clock the hunters had got a dozen miles to the east; 
the sea was hidden beneath the horizon; the doctor proposed a 
halt for breakfast. They swallowed it rapidly, and in half an se: 
hour they were off again. The ground was sloping gently ; a few a 
patches of snow, preserved either by their position or the slope of — af 








ee ee ee ef ¥ 
. = 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 127 


the rocks, gave it a woolly appearance, like waves in a high wind. 


The country was still barren, and looking as if no living being 
had ever set foot in it. 

“We have no luck,” said Altamont to the doctor; “to be 
sure, the country doesn’t offer much food to animals, but the 
game here ought not to be over-particular, and ought to show 
itself.” 

“Don’t let us despair,” said the doctor; “the summer has 
hardly begun; and if Parry met so many animals at Melville 
Island, we may be as lucky here.” 








































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“Still, we are farther north,” said Hatteras. 

“Certainly, but that is unimportant; it is the pole of cold we 
ought to consider ; that is to say, that icy wilderness in the middle 
of which we wintered with the Yorward; now the farther north 
we go, the farther we are from the coldest part of the globe; we 
ought to find, beyond, what Parry, Ross, and others found on the 
other side.” 


“Well,” said Altamont, with a regretful sigh, “so far we ’ve 
been travellers rather than hunters.” 
“Be patient,” answered the doctor; ‘the country is changing 
gradually, and I should be astonished if we don’t find game 
23 


= ae oes “eye Z VET Rae Ay eae” tis estat feces wk, 


128 15 


enough in the ravines where vegetation has had a hase 


¥ 
Rane 


sprout.” 

“Tt must be said,” continued Altamont, ‘that we are going 
through an uninhabited and uninhabitable country.” 

“Q, uninhabitable is a strong word !” answered the doctor ; “I 
can’t believe any land uninhabitable ; man, by many sacrifices, 
and for generations using all the resources of science, might finally 
fertilize such a country.” 






































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“Do you think so?” asked Altamont. 
“Without doubt! If you were to go to the celebrated coun- 
tries of the world, to Thebes, Nineveh, or Babylon, in the fertile 
valleys of our ancestors, it would seem impossible that men should 
ever have lived there; the air itself has grown bad since the 
disappearance of human beings. It is the general law of nature 
which makes those countries in which we do not live unhealthy 
and sterile, like those out of which life has died. In fact, man 
himself makes his own country by his presence, his habits, his 
industry, and, I might add, by his breath; he gradually mod- 
ifies the exhalations of the soil and the atmospheric conditions, — 
and he makes the air he breathes whclesome. So there are unin- oe 
habited lands, I grant, but none uninhabitable.” 









THE DESERT OF ICE. 129 
nee Talking in this way, the hunters, who had become naturalists, 
_* pushed on and reached a sort of valley, fully exposed, at the bot- 


tom of which a river, nearly free of ice, was flowing ; 


g; its southern 


exposure had brought forth a certain amount of vegetation. The 

earth showed a strong desire to grow fertile ; with a few inches 

of rich soil it would have produced a good deal. The doctor 

 ealled their attention to these indications. 

"~~ See,” he said, “a few hardy colonists might settle in this 

ravine. With industry and perseverance they could do a great 

deal; not as much as is seen in the temperate zones, but a 
respectable show. If I am not mistaken, there are some four- 

footed animals! They know the good spots.” 

; “They are Arctic hares,” shouted Altamont, cocking his gun. 

| “Wait a moment,” cried the doctor, — “ wait a moment, you 

hasty fellow. They don’t think of running away! See, they Il 


' 9) 


come to us! 
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































And, in fact, three or four young hares, springing about in the 
heath and young moss, ran boldly towards the three men ; they 
: were so cunning that even Altamont was softened. 

re Soon they were between the doctor’s legs ; he caressed them 
with his hand, saying, — 


%2 





in 
at Se 






130 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. — ieee 


“Why shoot these little animals which come to be petted? 
We need not kill them.” - 

“ You are right, Doctor,” answered Hatteras; “we'll let them 
live.” 

“And these ptarmigan, too, which are flying towards us!” 
cried Altamont ; “‘and these long-legged water-fowl !” 

A whole flock of birds passed over the hunters, not suspecting 
the peril from which the doctor's presence saved them. Even 
Duke was compelled to admire them. 

They were a curious and touching sight, flying about without fear, 
resting on Clawbonny’s shoulders, lying at his feet, offering them- 

- selves to his caresses, seeming to do their best to welcome their 4 
new guests; they called one another joyously, flying from the = 
most distant points ; the doctor seemed to be a real bird-charmer. 

The hunters continued their march up the moist banks of the 
brook, followed by the familiar band, and turning from the valley 
they perceived a troop of eight or ten reindeer browsing on a few 7 
lichens half buried beneath the snow; they were graceful, quiet 7 
animals, with their branching antlers, which the female carried as 
well as the male ; their wool-like fur was already losing its winter 
whiteness in favor of the summer brown and gray; they seemed : 
no more timid than the hares and birds of the country. Such 
were the relations of the first men to the first animals in the 
ely ages of the world. 

The hunters reached the middle of the band without any one 
flying ; this time the doctor found it hard to restrain the instincts 
of Altamont, who could not calmly look on this game without a 
thirst for blood rising in his brain. Hatteras looked mildly at 
these gentle beasts, who rubbed their noses against the doctor’s 
clothes; he was the friend of all the animals. 

“ But,” said Altamont, ‘did n’t we come here to shoot?” — 

“To shoot musk-ox,” answered Clawbonny, “and nothing else ! 
We should have no need of this game; we have food enough, so 
let us enjoy the sight of man walking thus among these animals, 
without alarming them.” 

“That proves they have never seen one before,” said Hat- 
teras. : 





Eifens tae 














































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“They were a curious and touching sight, flying about without fear, resting on 
Clawbonny’s shoulders, etc.”” — Page 130. 


it, 6 








THE DESERT OF ICE. 13) 
“ Evidently,” answered the doctor ; ‘‘and so we can be sure that 
these animals are not of American origin.” 

* And why so?” said Altamont. 

“Tf they were born on the continent of North America, they 
would know what to think of men, and they would have fled at 
the sight of us. No; they probably came from the north, from 
those unknown lands where our kind has never set foot, and 
they have crossed the continents near the Pole. So, Altamont, 
you can’t claim them as your fellow-countrymen.” 

“0,” answered Altamont, ‘‘a hunter does not scrutinize so 
closely, and the game belongs to the land where it was shot!” 

“ Well, calm yourself, my Nimrod! As for me, I would rather 
never fire a gun in my life than alarm this timid population, 
See, even Duke fraternizes with the charming beasts! Come, 
we ‘Il be kind when we can! Kindness is a force!” 

“ Well, well,” answered Altamont, who sympathized but slightly 
with this sensitiveness ; “ but I should be amused to see you armed 
with this kindness alone among a flock of bears or wolves!” 





















































































































































oe ee 
Sty “y\, MOREE S Eta OR SOE elm 


“(, I don’t pretend to charm wild beasts!” answered the doc- 
tor ; “I have little faith in the enchantment of Orpheus ; besides, 
bears and wolves would n’t come up to us like the hares, par- 
_ tridges, and reindeer.” 


ere as 


ow, 


13200 ° THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. - 


“Why not,” answered Altamont, ‘if they have never scen 


men ¢” 

“Because they are naturally ferocious, and ferocity, like mali- 
ciousness, begets suspicion; a remark which is true of man as. 
_ well as of animals. A wicked man is distrustful, and fear is 
commonly found in those who are able to inspire it.” 

This little lesson in natural philosophy ended the conversation. 

The whole day was passed in this Northern Arcadia, as the 
doctor named the valley, with the consent of his companions ; and 
that evening, after a supper which had not cost the life of a single 
inhabitant of the country, the three hunters went to sleep ina 
cleft of a rock which was admirably adapted for a shelter. 


CHAP TERY Et 
ALTAMONT’S REVENGE. 


Tu next day the doctor and his two companions woke up 
after a perfectly quiet night. The cold, although not keen, in- 
creased towards daybreak, but they were well covered, and slept 
soundly under the watch of the peaceful animals. 

The weather being pleasant, they resolved to consecrate the 
day to a reconnoissance of the country, and the search of musk- 
oxen. Altamont insisted on shooting something, and they decided 
that, even if these oxen should be the gentlest animals in the 
world, they should be shot. Besides, their flesh, although strongly 
flavored with musk, was pleasant eating, and they all hoped to 
carry back to Fort Providence a good supply of it. 

During the early morning hours nothing noteworthy took 
place ; the land grew different in the northeast ; a few elevations, 
the beginning of a mountainous district, indicated a change. If 
this New America were not a continent, it was at any rate an im- 


portant island ; but then they did not have to trouble themselves — 


abont its geography. 


Duke ran ahead, and soon came across some traces of a herd 








- 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 133 






of musk-oxen ; he then advanced rapidly, and soon disappeared 
from the eyes of the hunters. They followed his clear barking, 
which soon grew so hasty that they knew he had discovered the 
= object of their search. They pushed on, and in an hour and a 
half they came up to two of these animals; they were large, and 
formidable in appearance. They appeared much surprised at 












































































































































































































































Duke’s attacks, but not alarmed ; they were feeding off'a sort of 
reddish moss which grew on the thin soil. The doctor recognized 
them at once from their moderate height, their horns, which were 
broad at the base, the absence of muzzle, their shecp-like fore- 
head, and short tail ; their shape has earned for them from natu- 
ralists the name of “ ovibos,” a compound, and which expresses the 
two sorts of animals whose characteristics they share. Thick, 
long hair and a sort of delicate brown silk formed their fur. 

They ran away when they saw the two hunters, who came 
running up after them. It was hard to reach them for men who 
were out of breath after running half an hour. Hatteras and his 
companions stopped. 

“The Devil!” said Altamont. 

“That ’s just the word,” said the doctor, as soon as he could 
take breath. “I'll grant they are Americans, and they can’t 

ee have a very good idea of your countrymen.” 


| UES Sead = 


t 





134. THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


“That proves we are good hunters,” answered Altamont. 

Still, the musk-oxen, seeing they were not pursued, stopped in 
a posture of surprise. It became evident that they could never 
be run down; they would have to be surrounded ; the plateau on 
which they were aided this manceuvre. ‘The hunters, leaving 
Duke to harass them, descended through the neighboring ravines, 
so as to get around the plateau. Altamont and the doctor hid 
behind a rock at one end, while Hatteras, suddenly advancing 
from the other end, should drive the oxen towards them. In 
half an hour each had gained his post. 

“You don’t object any longer to our shooting?” asked Alta- 
mont. 

“No, it’s fair fighting,” answered the doctor, who, in spite of 
gentleness, was a real sportsman. 

They were talking in this way, when they saw the oxen run- 
ning, and Duke at their heels; farther on Hatteras was driving 
them, with loud cries, towards the American and the doctor, who 
ran to meet this magnificent prey. 
































































































































































































































ite 


i i Hit 
ace on HT 
ie 














At once the oxen stopped, and, less fearful of a single enemy, 
they turned upon Hatteras. He awaited them calmly, aimed at 
the nearest, and fired; but the bullet struck the animal in the 












































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































AAT 
ys 








‘Os Oe 





THE DESERT OF ICE. 135 


middle of his forehead, without penetrating the skull. Hatteras’s 
second shot produced no other effect than to make the beasts 
furious ; they ran to the disarmed hunter, and threw him down 
at once. 

“ He is lost,” cried the doctor. 

At the moment Clawbonny pronounced these words with an 
accent of despair, Altamont made a step forward to run to Hat- 
teras’s aid ; then he stopped, struggling against himself and his 
prejudices. 

“No,” he cried, “that would be cowardice.” 

He hastened with Clawbonny to the scene of combat. His 
hesitation had not lasted half a second. But if the doctor saw 
what was taking place in the American’s heart, Hatteras under- 
stood it, who would rather have died than have implored his 
rival’s interference. Still, he had hardly time to perceive it, for 
Altamont appeared before him. Hatteras, lying on the ground, 
was trying to ward off the horns and hoofs of the two animals. 
But he could not long continue so unequal a struggle. He was 
about to be torn in pieces, when two shots were heard. Hatteras 
heard the bullets whistling by his head. 

“Don’t be frightened!” shouted Altamont, hurling his gun to 
one side, and rushing upon the angry animals. 

One of the oxen fell, shot through the heart; the other, wild 
with rage, was just going to gore the captain, when Altamont faced 
him, and plunged into his mouth his hand, armed with a snow- 
knife ; with the other he gave him a terrible blow with a hatchet 
on the head. This was done with marvellous rapidity, and a 
flash of lightning would have lit up the whole scene. 

The second ox fell back dead. 

“Hurrah! hurrah!” cried Clawbonny. 

Hatteras was saved. He owed his life to the man whom he 
detested most in the world. What was going on in his mind at 
this time? What emotion was there which he could not master ? 
That is one of the secrets of the heart which defy all analysis. 

However that may be, Hatteras advanced to his rival without 
hesitation, and said to him seriously, —- 

“ You have saved my life, Altamont.” 


Hatteras!” 


— you, Hatteras ! 


conceive of this bold design! You dared try to reach that inae- 































“You saved mine,” answered the American. — There was © 
moment’s silence. Then Altamont added, ‘‘We are now y quits, be 


“No, Altamont,” answered the captain ; “ when the doctor took 
you from your icy tomb, I did not know who you were, and you~ 
have saved me at the risk of your own life, knowing who I was.” 


” 


“You are a fellow-being,” answered Altamont ; ‘‘and whatever ~ 
else he may be, an American is not a coward.” 


“No, he is not,” said the doctor; “he is aman! a man like 
! ” 


“ And like me he shall share the glory which is awaiting us!” 


“The glory of going to the North Pole?” said Altamont. 
** Ves,” said the captain, haughtily. 
“T had guessed it!” exclaimed the American. ‘So you dared. 


cessible point! Ah, that is great! It is sublime!” 

“But you,” asked Hatteras, hurriedly, ‘‘ were you not on your 
way to the Pole?” 

Altamont seemed to hesitate about replying. 

“Well?” said the doctor. 

“ Well, no,” answered the American, — “no; tell the truth, and 
shame the Devil! No, I did not have this great idea, which has 
brought you here. I was trying simply to sail through the North- 
west Passage, that is all.” 

“ Altamont,” said Hatteras, holding out his hand to the Amer- 
ican, “share our glory, and go with us to the North Pole!” 

The two men then shook hands warmly. 

When they turned towards the doctor, they saw his ey es. ful 
of tears. 

“Ah, my friends,” he murmured, as he dried his eyes, “ how 
ean my heart hold the joy with which you fill it? My dear com- — 
panions, you have sacrificed a miserable question of nationality 
in order to unite in your common success! You know that Eng-_ 
land and America have nothing to do with all this; that mutual 
sympathy ought to bind you together against the dangers of the — 
journey! Ifthe North Pole is dispayered, oar difference does 
it ee who does it? 








"hh Fe 


hae, Ve es et Pe 
fF 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 137 


The doctor embraced the reconciled foes ; he could not restrain 
his joy. The two new friends felt themselves drawn closer together 
by the friendship this worthy man had for them both. Claw- 
bonny spoke freely of the vanity of competition, of the madness 
of rivalry, and of the need of a»#reement between men so far from 
home. His words, his tears and caresses, came from the bottom 
of his heart. 

Still, he grew calm after embracing Hatteras and Altamont 
for the twentieth time. 

“And now,” he said, ‘to work, to work! Since I was no use 
as a hunter, let me try in another capacity !” 

Thereupon he started to cut up the ox, which he called the 
“ox of reconciliation,” but he did it as skilfully as if he were 
a surgeon conducting a delicate autopsy. His two companions 
gazed at him in amusement. In a few minutes he had cut from 
the body a hundred pounds of flesh; he gave each one a third 
of it, and they again took up their march to Fort Providence. 
At ten o’clock in the evening, after walking in the oblique rays 
of the sun, they reached Doctor’s House, where Johnson and 
Bell had a good supper awaiting them. 

But before they sat down to table, the doctor said in a voice 
of triumph, as he pointed to his two companions, — 

“Johnson, I carried away with me an Englishman and an 
American, did I not?” 

“Yes, Dr. Clawbonny,” answered the boatswain. 

“Well, I’ve brought. back two brothers.” 

The two sailors gladly shook Altamont’s hand ; the doctor told 
them what the American captain had done for the English cap- 
tain, and that night the snow-house held five perfectly happy 
men. 









1388. THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. — 


CHAPTERS AV ELS 5 


THE LAST PREPARATIONS. 


Tue next day the weather changed; there was a return of 4 
cold; the snow and rain gust raged for many days. 

Bell had finished the launch; it was perfectly satisfactory 
for the purpose it was intended for; partly decked, and ‘partly 
open, it could sail in heavy weather under mainsail and jib, 
while it was so light as not to be too heavy a load on the << 
sledge for the dogs. 























— SS 
~ == 











































































































































































































































































































Then, too, a change of great importance was taking place in 
the state of the polar basin. The ice in the middle of the bay = ™ 
was beginning to give way; the tallest pieces, forever weakened 
by the collision of the rest, only needed a sufficiently heavy 
tempest to be torn away and to become icebergs. Still, Hatteras 
was unwilling to wait so long before starting. Simce it was to — . 
be a land journey, he cared very little whether the sea was open — a 
















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“Well, I’ve brought back two brothers.” — Page 137, 


eh. fi 





THE DESERT OF ICE. 139 





or not. He determined to start June 25th; meanwhile all the 
preparations could be completed. Johnson and Bell put the 
sledge into perfect repair; the frame was strengthened and the 
‘runners renewed. The travellers intended to devote to their 
a journey the few weeks of good weather which nature allows to 
these northern regions. Their sufferings would be less severe, 
the obstacles easier to overcome. 

















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































A few days before their departure, June 20th, the ice had so 
many free passages, that they were able to make a trial trip on 
board of the new launch as far as Cape Washington. The sea 
was not perfectly free, fur from it; but its surface was not solid, 
and it would have been impossible to make a trip on foot over 
the ice-fields. This half-day’s sail showed the good sailing quali- 
ties of the launch. During the return they beheld a curious 
incident. It was a monstrous bear chasing a seal. Fortunately 
the former was so busily occupied, that he did not see the launch, 
otherwise he would certainly have pursued it ; he kept on watch 
near a crevasse in the ice-field, into which the seal had evidently 
plunged. He was awaiting his reappearance with all the patience 
of a hunter, or rather of a fisherman, for he was really fishing. 
____ He was silent, motionless, without any sign of life. Suddenly 


ee cs rm 


1 tee YF ee IL? tee ko setae: “go ae tee 


140 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


the surface of the water was agitated; the seal had come up to 
breathe. The bear crouched low upon the ice, and rounded his 
two paws about the crevasse. The next moment the seal ap- 
peared, with his head above water; but he had not time to 
withdraw it. The bear’s paws, as if driven by a spring, were 
clashed together, strangling the animal wich irresistible force 
and dragging it out of the water. 

It was but a brief struggle; the seal struggled for a few sec- 
onds, and was then suffocated on the breast of his adversary, who, 
dragging him away easily, in spite of his size, and springing 
lightly from one piece of ice to another, reached land and disap- 
peared with his prey. 

“A pleasant journey!” shouted Johnson; “that bear has got 
rather too many paws!” 

The launch soon reached the little anchorage Bell had made 
for her in the ice. 







































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Only four days were there before the time fixed for their de- 
parture. Hatteras hurried on the last preparations; he was in a 
hurry to leave New America, a land which was not his, and which 
he had not named; he did not feel at home. 

June 22d they began to carry to the’sledge their camp-mate- 














LEG a Tere eo 
























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































et 
















































































































































































Teer 9 









































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































<<) oy 
\ 












































































































































































































































AH ANU UA 































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































4 = — — —== 
“The seal struggled for a few seconds, and was then suffocated on the breast 
’ of his adversary.” — Page 140. 








THE DESERT OF ICE. 141 


rial, tent, and food. They carried only two hundred pounds of 


salt meat, three chests of preserved meat and vegetables, fifty 
pounds of pickles and lime-juice, five quarters of flour, packets of 
cresses and cochlearia from the doctor’s garden; with the addi- 
tion of two hundred pounds of powder, the instruments, arms, and 
personal baggage, the launch, Halkett-boat, and the weight of the 
sledge itself, the whole weighed fifteen hundred pounds, —a heavy 
load for four dogs, especially since, unlike the Esquimaux, who 
never travel more than four days in succession, they had none to 
replace them, and would have to work them every day. But the 
travellers determined to aid them when it was necessary, and they 
intended to proceed by easy stages; the distance from Victoria 
Bay to the Pole was three hundred and fifty-five miles at the out- 
side, and going twelve miles a day they could make the journey in a 
month. Besides, when the land came to an end, the launch 
would enable them to finish the journey without fatigue for dogs 
or men. 

The latter were well, and in excellent condition. The winter, 
although severe, ended favorably enough. Each one had followed 
the doctor’s advice, and escaped from the diseases common in 
these severe climates. In fact, they had grown a trifle thinner, 
which gave a great deal of pleasure to Clawbonny ; but their 
bodies were inured to the rigors of that life, and these men were 
able to face the severest attacks of cold and hunger without 
succumbing. And then, too, they were going to the end of 
their journey, to the inaccessible Pole, after which their 
only thought would be of returning. The sympathy which 
bound together the five members of the expedition would aid 
their success in this bold trip, and no one doubted of their 
success. 

As a precantion, the doctor had urged his companions to pre- 
pare themselves for some time beforehand, and to “train” with 
much care. 

“My friends,” he used to say, “I don’t ask you to imitate the 
English racers, who lose eighteen pounds after two days’ training, 
and twenty-five after five days, but we ought to do something to 
get into the best possible condition for a long journey. Now the 


142 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


first principle of training is to get,rid of the fat on both horse and — 


jockey, and this is done by means of purging, sweating, and yio- 
lent exercise. These gentlemen know they will lose so much by 
medicine, and they arrive at their results with incredible accu- 
racy ; such a one who before training could not run a mile with- 
out being winded, can run twenty-five easily after it. There was 
a certain Townsend who ran a hundred miles in twelve hours 
without stopping.” 

“ A good result,” answered Johnson ; “and although we are not 





very fat, if we must ge 

“There is no need of it, Johnson ; but without exaggerating, it 
can’t be denied that training rRameaee good effects ; it strength- 
ens the bones, makes the muscles more elastic, improves the 
hearing and the sight; so let us not forget it.” 


nh 


oe 


i 
f 


= 

















In short, w Hever in training or not, the travellers were core 
June 23d; it was Sunday, and the day was devoted to ahsolute 
rest. 

The time for departure drew near, and the inhabitants of Fort 
Providence could not see it approach without a certain emotion. 
It grieved them to leave this snow-hut which had served so well 
to protect them; Victoria Bay, this hospitable shore where they 


had spent the last days of the winter. Would they find these — 


















143 


buildings standing when they returned? Would not the rays of 


the sun melt away its fragile walls? 

In a word, they had passed pleasant hours there. The doctor, 
at the evening meal, called up to his companions’ memory touch- 
ing reminiscences, and he did not forget to thank Heaven for its 
evident protection. 

At last the hour of sleeping came. Each one went to bed 
early, so as to be up betimes. Thus passed their last night at 
Fort Providence. 


CHAPTER Xx EX. 
THE JOURNEY NORTHWARD. 


Ar dawn the next day Hatteras gave the signal for departure. 
The dogs were harnessed to the sledge; since they were well fed 
and had thoroughly rested, after a comfortable winter there was 
no reason for their not being of great service during the summer. 
Hence they were not averse to being put into harness. 

After all, these Greenland dogs are kind beasts. Their wildness 
was partly gone; they had lost their likeness to the wolf, and 
had become more like Duke, the finished model of the canine 
race, —in a word, they were becoming civilized. Duke could 
certainly claim a share in their education; he had given them 
lessons and an example in good manners. In his quality of 
Englishman, and so punctilious in the matter of cant, he was 
along time in making the acquaintance of the other dogs, who 
had not been introduced to him, and in fact he never used to 
speak to them; but after sharing the same dangers and privations, 
they gradually grew used to one another. Duke, who had a kind 
heart, made the first advances, and soon all the dogs were friends. 
The doctor used to pet the Greenland dogs, and Duke saw him do 
it without jealousy. The men were in equally good condition ; 
if the dogs could draw well, the men could walk well. 

They left at six o’clock in the morning; it was a very pleasant 
day. oo they had followed the line of the bay and passed 







144. THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


Cap@ Washington, Hatteras gave the order to turn northward ; 2 
by seven the travellers lost sight of the lighthouse and of Fort 4 
Providence in the south. 4 






























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































The journey promised well, much better than the expedition 
begun in the dead of winter in search of coal. Hatteras then left 
behind him, on board of the ship, mutiny and despair, without 
being certain of the object of his journey ; he left a crew half 
dead with cold, he started with companions who were weakened 
by the miseries of an arctic winter; he, too, eager for the north, 
had to return to the south! Now, on the other hand, surrounded 
by vigorous, healthy friends, encouraged and aided in many ways, 
he was starting for the Pole, the object of his whole life! No 
man had ever been nearer acquiring this glory for himself and 


TLE Ne ee 





Dirk des De Ay Ca he 


* 





i ee 


» i ve) 


his country. 4 

Was he thinking of all this, which was so naturally inspired by a 
his present position? The doctor liked to think so, and could 4 
hardly doubt it when he he saw him so eager. Clawbonny re- 4 
joiced in what so pleased his friend; and since the reconciliation 
of the two captains, the two friends, he was the happiest: of men ; 
for hatred, envy, and rivalry were passions he had never felt. 
What would be the issue of this voyage he did not know; but, 
at any rate, it began well, and that was a good deal. aig 
































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































- 





THE DESERT OF ICE. 145 


‘The western shore of New America stretched out in a series of 
bays beyond Cape Washington ; the travellers, to avoid this long 
curve, after crossing the first spurs of Mount Bell, turned north- 
ward over the upper plateaus. This was a great saving of time ; 
Hatteras was anxious, unless prevented by seas or mountains, to 
make a straight line of three hundred and fifty miles to the Pole 
from Fort Providence. 

Their journey was easy ; these lofty plains were covered with 
deep snow, over which the sledge passed easily, and the men in ~ 
their snow-shoes walked easily and rapidly. 

The thermometer stood at 37°. The weather was not absolutely 
settled ; at one moment it was clear, the next cloudy : but neither 
cold nor showers could have stopped the eager party. They could 
be followed easily by the compass; the needle was more active as 
they receded from the magnetic pole; it is true that it turned to 
the opposite direction and pointed to the south, while they were 
walking northward ; but this did not in any way embarrass them. 
Besides, the doctor devised a simple method of staking out the 
way and thereby avoiding perpetual reference to the compass ; 
when once they had got their bearings by some object two or 
three miles to the north, they walked till they reached it, when 
they chose another, and so on. In this way they had a straight 
road. 

In the first two days they made twenty miles in twelve hours ; 
the rest of the time was devoted to meals and rest. The tent was 
ample protection against the cold when they were sleeping. The 
temperature gradually rose. The snow melted away in some 
places, according to the shape of the ground, while in others it 
lay in large patches. Broad pools appeared here and there, often 
almost as large as lakes. They would walk in up to their waists 
very often; but they only laughed at it, and the doctor more 
than any. 

“Water has no right to wet us in this country,” he used to 
say; “it onght to appear only as a solid, or a gas; as to its being 
liquid, it’s absurd! Ice or vapor will do, but water won't !” 

They did not forget their shooting, for thereby they got fresh 
meat. So Altamont and Bell, without going very far away, 






PLS 

bi ee 

ny ee 
es * 
2. 


146 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


scoured the neighboring ravines; they brought back ptarmigan, — 
geese, and a few gray rabbits. Gradually these animals became 

very shy and hard to approach. Without Duke they would 

often have found it hard to get any game. Hatteras advised 
them not to go off farther than a mile, for not a day nor an 
hour was to be lost, and he could not count on more than : 
three months of good weather. 4 













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































hal ty 
yes | 



















































































































































































































































































































































































), 
pokd 
















































































































































































tet 


yy enere 


















































Pee 


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Besides, each one had to be at his post by the sledge whenever 
a hard spot, a narrow gorge, or steep inclines lay in the path; 
then each one helped pull or push. More than once everything 
had to be taken off; and this even did not fully protect against 
»Shocks and damage, which Bell repaired as well as he could. fea 

The third day, Wednesday, June 26th, they came across a vast Sa 
lake, still frozen by reason of its being sheltered from the sun ; ; 
the ice was even strong enough to bear both men and sledge. It 
was a solid mirror which no arctic summers had melted, as was 
shown by the fact that its borders were surrounded by a dry 
snow, of which the lower layers evidently belonged to previous 
years. 

From this moment the land grew lower, whence the doctor _ 
concluded that it did not extend very far to the north. Besides, — 







ai eet oo ais » tL a to n= eat 
eat Se Nee enh a i 
Ly eri pe - < 


. THE DESERT OF ICE. 147 


: was. very “likely that New ee was merely an island, and 
did not extend to the Pole. The ground grew more level; in 
‘the west a few low hills could be seen in the distance, eee 


with a bluish mist. 2 
4 
a 
= 


ss 
s 























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































3 
- 

































































So far they had experienced no hardships; they had suffered 
from nothing except the reflection of the sun’s rays upon the 
snow, which could easily give them snow-blindness. At any 
other time they would have travelled by night to avoid this in- 
convenience, but then there was no night. The snow was fortu- 

_ nately melting away, and it was much less brilliant when it was 
about turning into water. 

June 28th the temperature arose to 45°; this was accompanied 
with heavy rain, which the travellers endured stoically, even with 
pleasure, for it hastened the disappearance of the snow. They 
had to put on their deer-skin moccasins, and change the runners 
of the sledge. Their journey was delayed, but still they were 

_ advancing without any serious obstacles. At times the doctor 
would pick up rounded or flat stones like pebbles worn smooth by 
the waves, and then he thought he was near the Polar Sea; but 
yet the plain stretched on out of sight. There was no trace of 
_ man, no hut, no cairn nor Esquimaux snow-house ; they were 







- 





—_) +. Pe A i, RT SEES nt 


148 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 





evidently the first to set foot in this new land. The Greenlanders 
never had gone so far, and yet this country offered plenty of game 





































































































































































































































































































for the support of that half-starved people. Sometimes bears 
appeared in the distance, but they showed no signs of attacking ; 
afar off were herds of musk-oxen and reindeer. The doctor — 













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































mm HNN 










































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































WA NANNY MH 















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































THE DESERT OF ICE. 149 





would have liked to catch some of the latter to harness to the 
sledge ; but they were timid, and not to be caught alive. 

The 29th, Bell shot a fox, and Altamont was lucky enough to 
bring down a medium-sized musk-ox, after giving his companions 
a high idea of his bravery and skill ; he was indeed a remarkable 
hunter, and so much admired by the doctor. The ox was cut 
out, and gave plenty of excellent meat. These lucky supplies 
were always well received; the least greedy could not restrain 
their joy at the sight of the meat. The doctor laughed at him- 
self when he caught himself admiring these huge joints. 
“Let us not be afraid to eat it,” he used to say; “a good 
dinner is a good thing in these expeditions.” 

“ Especially,” said Johuson, ‘when it depends on a better or 
worse shot.” 

“You are right, Johnson,” replied the doctor; “one thinks 
less of one’s food when one gets a regular supply from the 
kitchen.” 

The 30th, the country became unexpectedly rugged, as if it 

















































































































































































































had been upheaved by some voleanic commotion ; the cones and 
peaks increased indefinitely in number, and were very high. <A 
southeast breeze began to blow with violence, and soon became 


| SA Bee c . 






ae 


150 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HAT TERAS. tox? 


a real hurricane. It rushed across the snow-covered rocks, 4 
among the ice-mountains, which, although on the firm land, <a 
took the form of hummocks and icebergs; their presence on 
these lofty plateaus could not be explained even by the doctor, 
who had an explanation for almost everything. Warm, damp 
weather succeeded the tempest ; it was a genuine thaw; on all 
sides resounded the cracking of the ice amid the roar of the 
avalanches. 

The travellers carefully avoided the base of these hills; they 
even took care not to talk aloud, for the sound of the voice 
could shake the air and cause accident. They were witnesses 
of frequent and terrible avalanches which they could not have 
foreseen. In fact, the main peculiarity of polar avalanches is 
their terrible swiftness; therein they differ from those of Swit- 
zerland and Norway, where they form a ball, of small size at 
first, and then, by adding to themselves the snow and rocks in 
its passage, it falls with increasing swiftness, destroys forests 
and villages, but taking an appreciable time in its course. Now, 
it is otherwise in the countries where arctic cold rages ; the fall 3 





of the block of ice is unexpected and startling ; its fall is almost 
instantaneous, and any one who saw it from beneath would be | 
certainly crushed by it; the cannon-ball is not swifter, nor light- Be 
ning quicker; it starts, falls, and crashes down in a single mo- 
















ment with the dreadful roar of thunder, and with dull echoes. 

So the amazed spectators see wonderful changes in the appear- 
ance of the country ; the mountain becomes a plain under the 
action of a sudden thaw; when the rain has filtered into the 
fissures of the great blocks and freezes in a single night, it breaks 
everything by its irresistible expansion, which is more powerful 
in forming ice than in forming vapor: the phenomenon takes 
place with terrible swiftness. 

No catastrophe, fortunately, threatened the sledge and its 
drivers; the proper precautions were taken, and every danger 
avoided. Besides, this rugged, icy country was not of great 
extent, and three days later, July 3d, the travellers were on 
smoother ground. But their eyes were surprised by a new 
phenomenon, which has for a long time claimed the attention 


eae 









PE ee RE Pe TS eR eR HIE 
‘THE DESERT OF ICE. 1514 


% ollowed a line of hills not more than fifty feet ee which 
‘appeared to run on several miles, and their eastern side was 
- covered with red snow. 


The surprise and even the sort of alarm which the sight of 
this crimson curtain gave them may be easily imagined. The 
doctor hastened, if not to reassure, at least to instruct, his com-— 
panions ; he was familiar with this red snow and the chemical 
analysis made of it by Wollaston, Candolle, Bauer. He told them 


this red snow was not found in the arctic regions alone, but in — 


Switzerland in the middle of the Alps; De Saussure collected a 
large quantity on the Breven in 1760; and since then Captains 
Ross, Sabine, and others had brought some back from their 
arctic journeys. 
































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Altamont asked the doctor about the nature of this extraor- 
dinary substance. He was told that its color came simply from 
the presence of organic corpuscles. For a long time it was a 
question whether these corpuscles were animal or vegetable ; 
but it was soon ascertained that they belonged to the family of 


ee mushrooms, of the genus Uredo, which Biuer pro-— 


ace naming Uredo wivalis. 





152 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS, 


Then the doctor, prying into the snow with his cane, showed 
his companions that the scarlet layer was only nine feet deep, 
and he bade them calculate how many of these mushrooms there 
might be on a space of many miles, when scientific men esti- 
mated forty-three thousand in a square centimetre. 

This coloring probably ran back to a remote period, for the 
mushrooms were not decomposed by either evaporation or the 
melting of the snow, nor was their color altered. 

The phenomenon, although explained, was no less strange. 
Red is a rare color in nature ; the reflection of the sun’s rays on 
this crimson surface produced strange effects; it gave the sur- 
rounding objects, men and animals, a brilliant appearance, as if 
they were lighted by an inward flame ; and when the snow was 
melting, streams of blood seemed to be flowing beneath the 
travellers’ feet. 

The doctor, who had not been able to examine this substance 
when he saw it on crimson cliffs from Baffin’s Bay, here examined 
it at his ease, and gathered several bottlefuls of it. 

This red ground, the ‘“ Field of Blood,” as he called it, took 
three hours’ walk to pass over, and then the country resumed its 
habitual appearance. 


CHAPTER. XxX. 
FOOTPRINTS ON THE SNOW. 


Juty 4th a dense fog prevailed. They were only able with 
the greatest difficulty to keep a straight path; they had to con- 
sult the compass every moment. Fortunately there was no 
accident in the darkness, except that Bell lost his snow-shoes, 
which were broken against a projecting rock. 

“Well, really,” said Johnson, “I thought, after seeing the 
Mersey and the Thames, that I knew all about fogs, but I see I 
was mistaken.” 

“We ought,” answered Bell, “to light torches as is Boce at 
London and Liverpool.” 


Aw soe 





















































































































































































































































































































































































































































“The masses of #e took the forms of hummocks and icebergs ‘’ — Page tse 

























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































aes <<) PHE DESERT OF ICE. map 1 a 
“Why not?” asked the doctor; “that’s a good idea; it A 
would n’t light up the road much, but we could see the guide, ‘ 
and follow him more easily.” ; 
. * But what shall we do for torches?” . ; 
a “ By lighting tow dipped in alcohol, and fastening to the end 2 = 
- of walking-sticks.” a 
“Good!” said Johnson ; “and we shall soon have it ready.” a 
-__ A quarter of an hour later the little band was walking along 
- _ with torches faintly lighting up the general gloom. 4 
But if they went straighter, they did not go quicker, and the a 
: fog lasted till July 6th; the earth being cold then, a blast of 5 
_ mnorth-wind carried away all the mist as if it had been rags. <4 
Soon the doctor took an observation, and ascertained that mean- a 

while they had not made eight miles a day. % 
| 





















































































































































































































































































































































Eat0 
le? ae 



































a 

















































































































































































































































































































4 

; 

- 

“ Re 
Wl 

j 

The 6th, they made an effort to make up for Jost time, and : 
they set out early. Altamont and Bell were ahead, choosing the 4 
way and Jooking out for game. Duke was with them. The weather, a 
with its surprising fickleness, had become very clear and dry ; ; 
and although the guides were two miles from the sledge, the - 

. doctor did not miss one of their movements. He was conse- ~. 
a 

F 


grently very much startled to see them stop suddenly, and 













154 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 
remain in a position of surprise; they seemed to be gazing into 
the distance, as if scanning the horizon. Then they bent down 


to the ground and seemed to be examining it closely, and they 2 
arose in evident amazement. Bell seemed to wish to push on, 
but Altamont held him back. : 


‘*What can they be doing?” asked the doctor of Johnson, 

“7 know no more than you, Doctor ; I don’t understand their 3 
gestures.” 
“They have found the track of some animals,” answered Hat- 
teras. 3 

“That ’s not it,” said the doctor, 

“Why not?” 

“Because Duke would bark.” 


















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“Still, they ’ve seen marks of some sort.” 

“Let us go on,” said Hatteras ; “we shall soon know.” 

Johnson urged on the dogs, who quickened their pace. 

In twenty minutes the five were together, and Hatteras, the 
doctor, and Johnson were as much surprised as Bell and Alta- 
mont. ; 

There were in the snow indubitable traces of men, as fresh as 


2% 


if they had just been made. ee Se 



















































































































































































































































































































































































* On all side 



























































































































































































































































resounded the cracking of the ice amid the roar of the 


~) } 
avalanches,’’ — Page 150, 








THE DESERT OF ICE. 155 





“They are Esquimaux,” said Hatteras. 

“Yes,” said the doctor, ‘there is no doubt of that!” 

“You think so?” said Altamont. 

“Without any doubt.” 

“Well, and this mark?” continued Altamont, pointing to 
another print, which was often repeated. 

“That one?” 

“Do you think it was made by an Esquimau ?” 

The doctor examined it carefully, and was stupefied. The print 
of a European shoe, with nails, sole, and heel, was clearly stamped 
in the snow. There could be no further doubt ; a man, a stranger, 
had been there. 

“ Europeans here!” cried Hatteras. 

“Evidently,” said Johnson. 

“ And still,” said the doctor, “it is so unlikely, that we ought 
to look twice before being sure.” 

Thereupon he looked twice, three times, at the print, and he 
was obliged to acknowledge its extraordinary origin. 

De Foe’s hero was not more amazed when he saw the footprint 
on the sand of his island; but if he was afraid, Hatteras was 
simply angry. A European so near the Pole! 

They pushed on to examine the footprints ; for a quarter of a 
mile they were continually repeated, mingled with marks of moc- 
casins; then they turned to the west. When they had reached 
this point they consulted as to whether they should follow them 
any farther. 

“No,” said Hatteras. “Let us go on —” 

He was interrupted by an exclamation of the doctor, who had 
just picked up on the snow an object even more convincing, and 
of the origin of which there could be no doubt. It was the 
object-glass of a pocket telescope. 

“Now,” he said, “we can’t doubt that there is a stanger 
here —” 

“Forward !” cried Hatteras. 

He uttered this word so sharply that each one obeyed, and the 
sledge resumed its monotonous progress. 

They all scanned the horizon attentively, except Hatteras, who 









7 i F : sy Ft On SO ~ 
156 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. — 


tf 


was filled with wrath and did not care to see anything. Still, 
since they ran the risk of coming across a band of travellers, they 
had to take precautions ; it was very disappointing to see any one 
ahead of them on the route. The doctor, although not as angry 
as Hatteras, was somewhat vexed, in spite of his usual philoso- 
phy. Altamont seemed equally annoyed ; Johnson and Bell mut- 
tered threatening words between their teeth. 

“Come,” said the doctor, “let us take heart against our bad 
fortune.” 

“We must confess,” said Johnson, without being heard by 
Altamont, ‘that if we find the place taken, it would disgust us 
with journeying to the Pole.” 

“And yet,” answered Bell, ‘there is no possibility of doubt- 


ing —" 3 

“No,” retorted the doctor ; “I turn it all over in vain, and say 4 
it is improbable, impossible ; I have to give it up. This shoe wa i 
not pressed into the snow without being at the end of a leg, and 3 
without the leg being attached to a human body. I could forgive a 









Esquimaux, but a European ! ” 

“The fact is,” answered Johnson, “that if we are going to find 
all the rooms taken in the hotel of the end of the world, it would 
be annoying.” 

“Very annoying,” said Altamont. 

“Well, we shall see,” said the doctor. 

And they pushed on. The day ended without any new fact to 
indicate the presence of strangers in this part of New America, 
and they at last encamped for the evening. 

A rather strong wind from the south had sprung up, and 
obliged them to seek a secure shelter for their tent in the bottom 
of aravine. The sky was threatening ; long clouds passed rapidly 
through the air; they passed near the ground, and so quickly that 
the eye could hardly follow them. At times some of the mist — 
touched the ground, and the tent resisted with difficulty the vio- 
lence of the hurricane. 

“Tt ’s going to be a nasty night,” said Johnson, after supper. 

“It won’t be cold, but stormy,” answered the doctor; “let us 
take precautions, and make the tent firm with large stones.” 





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Page 
KS 154. 





age, 







. -«- THE DESERT OF ICk. 
om 
/ You are right, Doctor ; if the wind should carry away the can- 
vas, Heaven alone knows where we should find it again.” 

Hence they took every precaution against such a danger, and 
the wearied travellers lay down to sleep. But they found it im- 


possible. The tempest was loose, and hastened northward with 


incomparable violence ; the clouds were whirling about like steam 
which has just escaped from a boiler; the last avalanches, under 
the force of the hurricane, fell into the ravines, and their dull 
echoes were distinctly heard; the air seemed to be struggling 
with the water, and fire alone was absent from this contest of the 
elements. 
Amid the general tumult their ears distinguished separate 
sounds, not the crash of heavy falling bodies, but the distinct 
_ eracking of bodies breaking; a clear snap was frequently heard, 
_. like breaking steel, amid the roar of the tempest. These last 
_ sounds were evidently avalanches torn off by the gusts, but the 
_ doetor could not explain the others. In the few moments of anx- 
ious silence, when the hurricane seemed to be taking breath in 


suppositions. 

“There is a sound of crashing,” said the doctor, “as if icebergs 
ang ice-fields were being blown against one another.” 

“Yes,” answered Altamont ; “one would say the whole crust 
of the globe was falling in. Say, did you hear that?” 
| “If we were near the sea,” the doctor went on, “I should think 

it was ice breaking.” 
“In fact,” said Johnson, “there is no other explanation pos- 
> Bible.” 

“Can we have reached the coast?” asked Hatteras. 

“It’s not impossible,” answered the doctor. ‘ Hold on,” he 
‘said, after a very distinct sound; “should n’t you say that was 
, _ the crashing of ice? We may be very near the ocean.” 

“Tf it is,” continued Hatteras, “I should not be afraid to go 
across the ice-fields.” 

. “0,” said the doctor, ‘‘they must be broken by such a tempest! 
__ We shall see to-morrow. However that may be, if any men have 


to travel in such a night as this, I pity them.” 
Oy ame 29 





order to blow with greater violence, the travellers exchanged their 








eee 


158 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


The hurricane raged ten hours without cessation, and no one < 
of those in the tent had a moment’s sleep; the night passed in 
profound uneasiness. In fact, under such circumstances, every 
new incident, a tempest, an avalanche, might bring serious con- 
sequences. The doctor would gladly have gone out to reconnoitre, 
but how could he with such a wind raging ? 

Fortunately the hurricane grew less violent early the next day; 
they could leave the tent which had resisted so sturdily. The 
doctor, Hatteras, and Johnson went to a hill about three hundred 
feet high, which they ascended without difficulty. Their eyes 
beheld an entirely altered country, composed of bare rocks, 
sharp ridges entirely clear of ice. It was summer succeeding 
winter, which had been driven away by the tempest; the snow 
had been blown away by the wind before it could melt, and the 
barren soil reappeared. 

But Hatteras’s glances were all turned towards the north, 
where the horizon appeared to be hidden by dark mist. 

“That may be the effect of the ocean,” said the doctor. 

“You are right,” said Hatteras; “the sea must be there.” 

“That ’s what we call the blink of the water,” said Johnson. 

“Exactly,” said the doctor. 

“Well, let us start,” said Hatteras, “and push on to this new 
ocean.” 

“That rejoices my heart,” said Clawbonny to the captain. 

“Certainly,” was the enthusiastic answer. “Soon we shall 
have reached the Pole! and doesn’t the prospect delight you, 
too, Doctor?” 







“Tt does. I am always happy, and especially about the happi- 
ness of others !” 

The three Englishmen returned to the ravine; the sledge was 
made ready, and they left the camp and resumed their march. | 
Kach one dreaded finding new tracks, but all the rest of the way 
they saw no trace of any human being. Three hours later they 
reached the coast. 

“The sea! the sea!” they all shouted. 

“And the open sea!” cried the captain. 

It was ten o'clock in the morning. 


































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































THE DESERT OF ICE. ; 159 


In fact, the hurricane had cleared up the polar basin; the 
shattered ice was floating away in every direction; the largest 
pieces, forming icebergs, had just weighed anchor and were sailing 
on the open sea. The wind had made a harsh attack upon the 
field. Fragments of ice covered the surrounding rocks. The lit- 
tle which was left of the ice-field seemed very soft ; on the rocks 
were large pieces of sea-weed. The ocean stretched beyond the 
line of vision, with no island or new land peering above the horizon. 

In the east and west were two capes gently sloping to the 
water; at their end the sea was breaking, and the wind was 
carrying a slight foam. The land of New America thus died 
away in the Polar Ocean, quietly and gently. It rounded into an 
open bay, with roadstead enclosed by the two promontories. In 
the middle a rock made a little natural harbor, sheltered against 
three points of the compass; it ran back into the land in the 
broad bed of a stream, through which ran down the melted snows 
of winter, now forming a perfect torrent. 

Hatteras, after noticing the outline of the coast, resolved to 
make the preparations for departure that very day, to launch the 
boat, to put the unloaded sledge on board for future excursions. 
That took all day ; then the tent was raised, and after a comforta- 
ble meal work began. Meanwhile the doctor took out his instru- 
ments to take an observation and determine the position of a part 
of the bay. Hatteras hurried on the work; he was anxious to 
start ; he wanted to leave the land, and to be in advance in case 
any others should reach the sea. 

At five o'clock in the evening Johnson and Bell had nothing to 
do but to fold their arms. The launch was rocking gently in her 
little harbor, with her mast set, her jib lowered, and her foresail 
in the brails ; the provisions and most of the things on the sledge 
had been put on board; only the tent and a little of the camping 
material remained to be put on board the next day. The doctor 
found all these preparations complete on his return. When he 
saw the launch quietly sheltered from the wind, it occurred to 
him to give a name to the little harbor, and he proposed that of 
Altamont. This proposition was unanimously agreed to. So it 
was named Altamont Harbor. 


160 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


According to the doctor’s calculations, it lay in latitude 87° 5’, 
and longitude 118° 35’ E. of Greenwich ; that is to say, less than 
three degrees from the Pole. The band had gone more than two 
hundred miles from Victoria Bay to Altamont Harbor. 


CHAP TER Xe 
THE OPEN SEA. 


Tue next morning Johnson and Bell set about carrying on 
board the camping material. At eight o’clock all the preparations 
for departure were complete. At the moment of starting the 
doctor’s thoughts returned to the footprints they had seen. 
Were these men trying to gain the North? Had they any means 
of crossing the Polar Sea! Should they meet them again? For 
three days they had come across no trace of the travellers, and 
certainly, whoever they were, they could not have reached Alta- 
mont Harbor. That was a place which they were the first to 
set foot in. But the doctor, who was harassed by his thoughts, 
wanted to take a last view of the country, and he ascended a 
little hill about a hundred feet high, whence he had a distant 
view to the south. 

When he had reached the top, he put his glass to his eyes. 
Great was his surprise when he found he could not see anything, 
either at a distance on the plains, or within a few feet of him. 
This seemed very odd; he made another examination, and at last 
he looked at the glass, — the object-glass was missing. 

“The object-glass ! ” he cried. 

The sudden revelation may be imagined ; he uttered a cry so 
loud as to be heard by his companions, and they were much 
astonished at seeing him running down the hill. 

“Well, what’s the matter now?” asked Johnson. 


The doctor was out of breath, and unable to speak. At length 


he managed to bring out, — 
“The footprints ! — the expedition ! —” 


TS ee ee ne ee ee 

































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“They climbed a h 


lL which « 








oOmmane 


















_ | THE DESERT OF ICE. Seated 
“Well, what?” said Hatteras ; “are they here?” a 


“No, no!” resumed the doctor, — “ the object-glass, mine !” 
And he showed his own glass. 
“OQ, ho!” cried the American, “so you lost —” 
ieee ves!” 
“ But then the footprints —” 
“Our own!” cried the doctor. ‘ We lost our way in the fog! 
We went around in a circle, and came across our own footprints!” 




































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































pa ee 


“ But the print of the shoes?” asked Hatteras. 

“Bell's, you know, who walked all day in the snow after 
breaking his snow-shoes.” 

“That ’s true,” said Bell. 

Their mistake was so clear, that they all, except Hatteras, 
burst out laughing, and he was none the less pleased at the dis- 


“- 


ee ee 
Poe re! 


pot 


covery. . 
“We were stupid enough,” said the doctor, when they had 
stopped laughing. ‘“ What good guesses we made! Strangers up 
here! Really, we ought to think before speaking. Well, since 
we are easy on this point, we can’t do better than start.” 
if “Forward!” said Hatteras. 
: _ A quarter of an hour later each one had taken his place on 


7 — 80 


* 


ae ee Me ae aE) We ge eee 


Sta) Se 


7 









ee aes ee 
162. THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 9. 


board of the launch, which sailed out of Altamont Harbor under 
mainsail and jib. This voyage began Wednesday, July 10th; 
they were then very near the Pole, exactly one hundred and 
seventy-five miles from it. However small the land might be at 
that point of the globe, the voyage would certainly be a short 
one. The wind was light, but fair. The thermometer stood at 
50° ; it was really warm. 

The launch had not been injured by the journey on the sledge; 
it was in perfect order, and sailed easily. Johnson was at the 
helm; the doctor, Bell, and Altamont were lying as best they 
might among the load, partly on deck, partly below. 

Hatteras stood forward, with his eyes turned to the mysterious 
point, which attracted him with an irresistible power, as the 
magnetic pole attracts the needle. If there should be any land, 
he wanted to be the first to see it. This honor really belonged to 
him. He noticed, besides, that the surface of the Polar Sea was 
covered with short waves, like those of land locked seas. This he 
considered a proof of the nearness of the opposite shore, and the 
doctor shared his opinion. 

Hatteras’s desire to find land at the North Pole is perfectly 
comprehensible. His disappointment would have been great if 
the uncertain sea covered the place where he wanted to find a 
piece of land, no matter how small! In fact, how could he give 
a special name to an uncertain portion of the sea? How plant 
the flag of his country among the waves? How take possession, in 
the name of her Gracious Majesty, of the liquid element ? 

So Hatteras, compass in hand, gazed steadily at the north. 
There was nothing that he could see between him and the ho- 
rizon, where the line of the blue water met the blue sky. A few 
floating icebergs seemed to be leaving the way free for these bold 
sailors. The appearance of this region was singularly strange. 
Was this impression simply the result of the nervous excitement 
of the travellers? It is hard to say. Still, the doctor in his 
journal has described the singular appearance of the ocean; he 
spoke of it as Penny did, according to whom these countries 
present an appearance “offering the most striking contrast of a 
sea filled with millions of living creatures.” 


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—_ == 
—= 


= == 















































































































































“Three hours later they reached the coast. ‘The sea! the sea!’ they all 
shouted.”? — Page 158. 








THE DESERT OF ICE. 163 


-— The sea, with its various colors, appeared strangely transparent, 
and endowed with a wonderful dispersive quality, as if it had been 
made with carburet of sulphur. This clearness let them see 
down into immeasurable depths ; it seemed as if the sea were lit 
up like a large aquarium ; probably some electric phenomenon at 
the bottom of the sea lit it up. So the launch seemed hung in 
a bottomless abyss. 



















































































































































































































































































































































































On the surface of the water the birds were flying in large 
flocks, like thick clouds big with a storm. Aquatic birds of all 
sorts were there, from the albatross which is common to the 
south, to the penguin of the arctic seas, but of enormous size. 
Their cries were deafening. In considering them the doctor found 
his knowledge of natural history too scanty ; many of the names 
escaped him, and he found himself bowing his head when their 
wings beat the air. 

Some of these large birds measured twenty feet from tip to tip; 
they covered the whole launch with their expanded wings ; and 
there were legions of these birds, of which the names had never 
appeared in the London “ Index Ornithologus.” The doctor was 
dejected and stupefied at finding his science so faulty. Then, 
when his glance fell from the wonders of the air to the calm sur- 
face of the ocean, he saw no less astonishing productions of the 


a 


J 


164 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. — 


animal kingdom, among others, meduse thirty feet broad; they 
served as food for the other fish, and they floated like islands 
amid the sea-weed. What a difference from the microscopic me- 
dusze observed in the seas of Greenland by Scoresby, and of 
which that explorer estimated the number at twenty-three tril- 
lions eight hundred and ninety-eight billions of millions in a 
space of two square miles ! 

Then the eye glancing down into the transparent water, the 
sight was equally strange, so full was it of fishes; sometimes 
the animals were swimming about below, and the eye saw them 
gradually disappearing, and fading away like spectres ; then they 
would leave the lower layers and rise to the surface. The mon- 
sters seemed in no way alarmed at the presence of the launch ; 
they even passed near it, rubbing their fins against it ; this, which 
would have alarmed whalers, did not disturb these men, and yet 
the sea-monsters were very large. 

- Young sea-calves played about them; the sword-fish, with its 
long, narrow, conical sword, with which it cleaves the ice, was 
chasing the more timid cetacea; numberless spouting whales 
were clearly to be heard. The sword-caper, with its delicate tail 
and large caudal fins, swam with incomprehensible quickness, 
feeding on smaller animals, such as the cod, as swift as itself; 
while the white whale, which is more inactive, swallowed peace- 
fully the tranquil, lazy mollusks. 

Farther down were Greenland anamaks, long and dark; huge 
sperm-whales, swimming in the midst of ambergris, in which took 
place thomeric battles that reddened the ocean for many miles 
around ; the great Labrador tegusik. Sharp-backed dolphins, the 
whole family of seals and walruses, sea-dogs, horses and bears, 
lions and elephants, seemed to be feeding on the rich pastures ; 
and the doctor admired the numberless animals, as he would have 
done the crustacea in the crystal basins of the zoological garden. 

What beauty, variety, and power in nature! How strange and 
wonderful everything seemed in the polar regions ! 

The air acquired an unnatural purity ; one would have said it 
was full of oxygen; the explorers breathed with delight this air, 
which filled them with fresher life; without taking account of 








ra ee ee eee 


4 







BE 


eee Lhe ee rn Ate 2 ee 





ee THE DESERT OF ICR. 165 


the result, they were, so to speak, exposed to a real consuming 
fire, of which one can give no idea, not even a feeble one. Their 
emotions, their breathing and digestion, were endowed with super- 
human energy; their ideas became more excited ; they lived a 
whole day in an hour. 

Through all these wonders the launch pushed on before a 
moderate breeze, occasionally feeling the air moved by the alba- 


_ troses’ wings. 


Towards evening, the coast of New America disappeared be- 
neath the horizon. In the temperate zones, as well as at the 
equator, night falls; but here the sun simply described a circle 
parallel to the line of the horizon. The launch, bathed in its 
oblique rays, could not lose sight of it. 

The animate beings of these regions seemed to know the ap- 
proach of evening as truly as if the sun had set; birds, fish, 
cetacea, all disappeared. Whither? To the depths of the ocean ? 
Who could say? But soon total silence succeeded to their cries, 
and the sound of their passage through the water; the sea grew 
calmer and calmer, and night retained its gentle peace even be- 
neath the glowing sun. 

Since leaving Altamont Harbor the launch had made one 
degree to the north; the next day nothing appeared on the 
horizon, neither projecting peaks nor those vague signs by which 
sailors detect their nearness to land. 

The wind was good, but not strong, the sea not high ; the birds 
and fish came as thick as the day before ; the doctor, leaning over 
the gunwale, could see the cetacea rising slowly to the surface ; a 
few icebergs and scattered pieces of ice alone broke the monotony 
of the ocean. 

But the ice grew rarer, and was not enough to interfere with 
the boat. It is to be remembered that the launch was then ten 
degrees above the pole of cold; and as to the parallels of temper- 
ature, they might as well have been ten degrees to the other side. 
There was nothing surprising in the sea being open at this epoch, 
as it must have been at Disco Island in Baffin’s Bay. So a sailing 
vessel would have plenty of sailing room in the summer months. 

This observation had a great practical importance ; in fact, if 


ee aaee ——_ 


a 
\ peli 


5 sa) ia 





ty. 





166 7HE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


whalers can ever get to the polar basin, either by the seas of 
North America or those of the north of Asia, they are sure_ q 
of getting full cargoes, for this part of the ocean seems to be 
the universal fishing-pond, the general reservoir of whales, seals, 

and all marine animals. At noon the line of the horizon was 

still unbroken ; the doctor began to doubt of the existence of a 
continent in so high latitudes. 












































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Still, as he reflected, he was compelled to believe in the exist- : 
ence of an arctic continent ; in fact, at the creation of the world, 
after the cooling of the terrestrial crust, the waters formed by 
the condensation of the atmospheric vapor were compelled to 
obey the centrifugal force, to fly to the equator and leave the 
motionless extremities of the globe. Hence the necessary emer- 
sion of the countries near the Pole. The doctor considered this 
reasoning very just. And so it seemed to Hatteras. 

Hence the captain still tried to pierce the mists of the horizon. 
His glass never left his eyes. In the color of the water, the 
shape of the waves, the direction of the wind, he tried to find _ 3 
traces of neighboring land. His head was bent forward, and even 
one who did not know his thoughts would have admired, so full 
was his attitude of energetic desire and anxious interrogation. 






























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“ The launch was rocking gently in her little harbor.” — Page 159. 


=“) 








i, 4 


“SE So oe Pe ae - tae 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 167 


CPAP TER AAT. 
THE APPROACH TO THE POLE. 


THE time flew by in this uncertainty. Nothing appeared on 
the sharply defined circle of the sea; nothing was to be seen 
save sky and sea, —not one of those floating land-plants which 
rejoiced the heart of Christopher Columbus as he was about to 
discover America. Hatteras was still gazing. At length, at 
about six o'clock in the evening, a shapeless vapor appeared at 
a little height above the level of the sea; it looked like a puff 
of smoke ; the sky was perfectly cold, so this vapor was no cloud ; 
it would keep appearing and disappearing, as if it were in com- 
motion. Hatteras was the first to detect this phenomenon ; he 
examined it with his glass for a whole hour. 

Suddenly, some sure sign apparently occurred to him, for he 
stretched out his arms to the horizon and cried in a loud voice, — 

“Land, ho!” : 

At these words each one sprang to his feet as if moved by 
electricity. A sort of smoke was clearly rising above the sea. 

“T see it,” cried the doctor. 

“Yes! certainly !— yes!” said Johnson. 

“Tt’s a cloud,” said Altamont. 

“Tt’s land!” answered Hatteras, as if perfectly convinced. 

But, as often happens with objects that are indistinct in the 
distance, the point they had been looking at seemed to have 





disappeared. At length they found it again, and the doctor even 
fancied that he could see a swift light twenty or twenty-five 
miles to the north. 

“It’s a volcano!” he cried. 

“A volcano?” said Altamont. 

“Without doubt.” 

* At this high latitude ?” 

“And why not?” continued the doctor; “isn’t Iceland a 
volcanic land, so to speak, made of volcanoes?” 


rhAY wy. 





168 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. Yom 


“Yes, Iceland,” said the American, ‘but so near the Pole!” 

“Well, did n’t Commodore James Ross find in the Southern 
Continent two active volcanoes, Erebus and Terror by name, in 
longitude 170° and latitude 78°? Why then should n’t there be 
voleanoes at the North Pole?” 

“It may be so, after all,” answered Altamont. 

“Ah,” cried the doctor, “I see it clearly! It is a volcano.” : 

“Well,” said Hatteras, “let us sail straight towards it.” 

“The wind is changing,” said Johnson. 

“Haul on the fore-sheet, and bring her nearer the wind,” 

But this mancuvre only turned the launch away from the 
point they had been gazing at, and even with their closest exam- 
ination they could not find it again. Still, they could not doubt 
that they were nearing land. They had seen, if they had not 
reached, the object of their voyage, and within twenty-four hours 
they would set foot on this unknown shore. Providence, after 
letting them get so near, would not drive them back at the last 
moment. 

Still, no one manifested the joy which might have been ex- 
pected under the circumstances ; each one wondered in silence 
what this polar land might be. The animals seemed to shun 
it; at evening the birds, instead of seeking refuge there, flew 
with all speed to the south. Could not a single gull or ptarmi- 
gan find a resting-place there? Even the fish, the large cetacea, 
avoided that coast. Whence came this repugnance, which was 
shared by all the animals they saw, unless from terror? | 

The sailors experienced the same feeling ; they gave way to 3 
the feelings inspired by the situation, and gradually each one 
felt his eyelids grow heavy. It was Hatteras’s watch. He took 
the tiller; the doctor, Altamont, Johnson, and Bell fell asleep, 
stretched on the benches, and soon were dreaming soundly. 
Hatteras struggled against his sleepiness ; he wished to lose not 
a moment; but the gentle motion of the launch rocked him, in 
spite of himself, into a gentle sleep. 

The boat made hardly any headway ; the wind did not keep 
her sails full. Far off in the west a few icebergs were reflecting 
the sun’s rays, and glowing brightly in the midst of the ocean. 

























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































eee eee F 
=z < a J 
6 =— _— Se fl 





bone 
et ie 








THE DESERT OF ICE. 169 


Hatteras began to dream. He recalled his whole life, with 
the incalculable speed of dreams; he went through the winter ¥ 
again, the scenes at Victoria Bay, Fort Providence, Doctor's 
House, the finding the American beneath the snow. Here re- 
moter incidents came up before him; he dreamed of the burning 
of the Forward, of his treacherous companions who had aban- 
doned him. What had become of them? He thought of Shan- 
don, Wall, and the brutal Penn. Where were they now? Had - 
they succeeded in reaching Baffin’s Bay across the ice? Then 
he went further back, to his departure from England, to his 


















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































—— 


previous voyages, his failures and misfortunes. Then he forgot 3 
his present situation, his success so near at hand, his hopes half 
realized. His dreams carried him from joy to agony. So it 
went on for two hours; then his thoughts changed; he began 
to think of the Pole, and he saw himself at last setting foot on 
this English continent, and unfolding the flag of the United 
Kingdom. While he was dozing in this way a huge, dark cloud 
was climbing across the sky, throwing a deep shadow over the 
sea, 

It is difficult to imagine the great speed with which hurri- 
canes arise in the arctic seas. The vapors which rise under the 


ile” eae 


A ‘Sa or 


170 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


equator are condensed above the great glaciers of the North, 
and large masses of air are needed to take their place. This 
can explain the severity of arctic storms. 

At the first shock of the wind the captain and his friends 
awoke from their sleep, ready to manage the launch. The waves 
were high and steep. The launch tossed helplessly about, now 
plunged into deep abysses, now oscillated on the pointed crest 
of a wave, inclining often at an angle of more than forty-five 
degrees. Hatteras took firm hold of the tiller, which was noisily 
sliding from one side to the other. Every now and then some 
strong wave would strike it and nearly throw him over. Johnson 
and Bell were busily occupied in bailing out the water which 
the launch would occasionally ship. 

“This is a storm we hardly expected,” said Altamont, holding 
fast to his bench. 

“We ought to expect anything here,” answered the doctor. 

These remarks were made amid the roar of the tempest and 
the hissing of the waves, which the violence of the wind reduced 
to a fine spray. It was nearly impossible for one to hear his 
neighbor. It was hard to keep the boat’s head to the north; the 
clouds hid everything a few fathoms from the boat, and they 
had no mark to sail by. This sudden tempest, just as they were 
about attaining their object, seemed full of warning; to their 
excited minds it came like an order to go no farther. Did 
Nature forbid approach to the Pole? Was this point of the 
globe surrounded by hurricanes and tempests which rendered 
access impossible? But any one who had caught sight of those 
men could have seen that they did not flinch before wind or 
wave, and that they would push on to the end. So they strug- 
gled on all day, braving death at every instant, and making no 
progress northward, but also losing no ground; they were wet 
through by the rain and waves ; above the din of the storm they 
could hear the hoarse cries of the birds. 

But at six o’clock in the evening, while the waves were rising, 
there came a sudden calm. The wind stopped as if by a miracle. 
The sea was smooth; as if it had not felt a puff of wind for twelve 


hours. The hurricane seemed to have respected this part of the 






































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“Then the eye glancing down into the transparent water, the sight was equally 
strange.” — Page 164. 


32 





= THE DESERT OF ICE. rg | 


Polar Ocean. What was the reason? It was an extraordinary 
phenomenon, which Captain Sabine had witnessed in his voyages 
in Greenland seas. The fog, without lifting, was very bright. 
The launch drifted along in a zone of electric light, an immense 
St. Elmo fire, brilliant but without heat. The mast, sail, and 
rigging stood out black against the phosphorescent air; the men 
seemed to have plunged into a bath of transparent rays, and their 
faces were all lit up. The sudden calm of this portion of the 
ocean came, without doubt, from the ascending motion of the col- 
umns of air, while the tempest, which was a cyclone, turned rap- 
idly about this peaceful centre. But this atmosphere on fire 
suggested a thought to Hatteras. 

‘The volcano!” he cried. 

“Ts it possible?” asked Bell. 

“No, no!” answered the doctor; ‘‘ we should be smothered if 
the flames were to reach us.” 

“Perhaps it is its reflection in the fog,” said Altamont. 

“No. We should have to admit that we were near land, and 
in that case we should hear the eruption.” 

“But then?” asked the captain. 

“Tt is a phenomenon,” said the doctor, “which has been sel- 
dom observed hitherto. If we go on we cannot help leaving this 
luminous sphere and re-entering storm and darkness.” 

“Whatever it is, push on!” said Hatteras. 

“Forward!” cried his companions, who did not wish to delay 
even for breathing-time in this quiet spot. The bright sail hung 
down the glistening mast; the oars dipped into the glowing 
waves, and appeared to drip with sparks. Hatteras, compass in 
hand, turned the boat’s head to the north; gradually the mist 
lost its brightness and transparency ; the wind could be heard 
roaring a short distance off; and soon the launch, lying over before 
a strong gust, re-entered the zone of storms. Fortunately, the 
hurricane had shifted a point towards the south, and the launch 
was able to run before the wind, straight for the Pole, running 
the risk of foundering, but sailing very fast ; a rock, reef, or piece 
of ice might at any moment rise before them, and crush them to 
atoms. Still, no one of these men raised a single objection, nor 


,- 


; = =o 





ere, THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. . 


suggested prudence. They were seized with the madness of 
danger. Thirst for the unknown took possession of them. They 
were going along, not blinded, but blindly, finding their speed 
only too slow for their impatience. Hatteras held the tiller firm 
amid the waves lashed into foam by the tempest. Still the prox- 
imity of land became evident. Strange signs filled the air. Sud- 
denly the mist parted like a curtain torn by the wind, and for a 
moment, brief as a flash of lightning, a great burst of flame could 
be seen rising towards the sky. 

“The volcano! the voleano!” was the cry which escaped from 
the lips of all; but the strange vision disappeared at once; the 
wind shifted to the southeast, took the launch on her quarter, 
and drove her from this unapproachable land. 

‘‘Malediction !” said Hatteras, shifting her sail; “we were not 
three miles from land !” 

Hatteras could not resist the force of the tempest ; but without 
yielding to it, he brought the boat about in the wind, which was 
blowing with fearful violence. Every now and then the launch 
leaned to one side, so that almost her whole keel was exposed ; 
still she obeyed her rudder, and rose like a stumbling horse which 
his rider brings up by spur and reins. Hatteras, with his hair ; 
flying and his hand on the tiller, seemed to be part of the boat, 
like horse and man at the time of the centaurs. Suddenly a ter- 
rible sight presented itself to their eyes. Within less than ten 
fathoms a floe was balancing on the waves; it fell and rose like ; 
the Jaunch, threatening in its fall to crush it to atoms. But to 4 
this danger of being plunged into the abyss was added another no ; 
less terrible ; for this drifting floe was covered with white hears, 
crowded together and wild with terror. 

“Bears! bears!” cried Bell, in terror. 

And each one gazed with terror. The floe pitched fearfully, 
sometimes at such an angle that the bears were all rolled to- 
gether. Then their roars were almost as loud as the tempest; a 
formidable din arose from the floating menagerie. 

If the floe had upset, the bears would have swum to the boat 
and clambered aboard. 

For a quarter of an hour, which was as long as a century, the 





ae” ee 











































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































““* Tt ’s a volcano!’ he cried.”” — Page 167. 


























































































































































































































































































































































































































“The launch tossed helplessly about.” Page 170. 





aay mate ee - ll Po - + 





THE DESERT OF ICE. . 173 


launch and floe drifted along in consort, twenty fathoms from one 
another at one moment and nearly running together the next, 
and at times they were so near to one another, the bears need 
only have dropped to have got on board. The Greenland dogs 
trembled from terror; Duke remained motionless. Hatteras and 
his companions were silent ; it did not occur to them to put the 
helm down and sail away, and they went straight on. A vague 
feeling, of astonishment rather than terror, took possession of 
them ; they admired this spectacle which completed the struggle 
of the elements. Finally the floe drifted away, borne by the 
wind, which the launch was able to withstand, as she lay with her 
-head to the wind, and it disappeared in the mist, its presence 
being known merely by the distant roaring of the bears. 

At that moment the fury of the tempest redoubled ; there was 
an endless unchaining of atmospheric waves; the boat, borne by 
the waves, was tossed about giddily; her sail flew away like a 
huge white bird; a whirlpool, a new Maelstrom, formed among 
the waves; the boat was carried so fast that it seemed to the men 
as if the rapidly revolving water were motionless. They were 
gradually sinking down. There was an irresistible power drag- 
ging them down and ingulfing them alive. All five arose. They 
looked at one another with terror. They grew dizzy. They felt 
an undefinable dread of the abyss! But suddenly the launch 
arose perpendicularly. Her prow was higher than the whirling 
waves ; the speed with which she was moving hurled her beyond 
the centre of attraction, and escaping by the tangent of this cir- 
cumference which was making more than a thousand turns a 
second, she was hurled away with the rapidity of a cannon-ball. 

Altamont, the doctor, Johnson, and Bell were thrown down 
among the seats. When they rose, Hatteras had disappeared. 
It was two o’clock in the morning. 






ee SS Seen Ee ey ty | Co ie Mey re tn Se AN ny Oy ane eae) ee 
; et ia Belg 
HATTERAS. 









Se 4 


“174. THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN 





< 


CHAPTER XXITPI- 
THE ENGLISH FLAG. 


OnE cry, bursting from the lips of the other four, succeeded 
their first stupefaction. 
“Hatteras!” cried the doctor. 

’ “Gone!” said Johnson and Bell. | 
“ Lost !” 
They looked about, but nothing was to be seen on the storm- 

tossed sea. Duke barked despairingly ; he tried to spring into 

the water, but Bell managed to hold him. | 
“Take a place at the helm, Altamont,” said the doctor ; “let ‘ 
us try everything to save the captain.” 




















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































Gn OS ee eee a ee 






















































































” = 
ee ae 


fe 




































































Johnson and Bell took their seats. Altamont took the helm, 
and the launch came into wind again. Johnson and Bell began 
to row vigorously ; for an hour they remained at the scene of the 
accident. They sought earnestly, but in vain. The unfortunate 













































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































** The fog without lifting was very bright.’ — Page 171. 























THE DESERT OF ICE. : 175 


Hatteras was lost in the storm! Lost, so near the Pole, so near 
‘the end, of which he had had but a glimpse! 

The doctor called aloud, and fired the guns; Duke added his 
howling, but there was no answer. Then profound grief seized 
Clawbonny ; his head sank into his hands, and his companions saw 
that he was weeping. In fact, at this distance from land, with a 
scrap of wood to hold him up, Hatteras could not reach the shore 
alive ; and if anything did come ashore, it would be his disfigured 
corpse. After hunting for an hour, they decided to turn to the 
north, and struggle against the last furies of the tempest. 

At five o’clock in the morning of July 11th the wind went 
down ; the sea grew quieter ; the sky regained its polar clearness, 
and within three miles of them appeared the land. This con- 
tinent was but an island, or rather a volcano, peering up like a 
lighthouse at the North Pole. The mountain, in full eruption, 
was hurling forth a mass of burning stones and melting rocks. 
It seemed to be rising and falling beneath the successive blasts as 
if it were breathing; the things which were cast out reached a 
great height in the air; amid the jets of flame, torrents of lava 
were flowing down the side of the mountain; here creeping be- 
tween steaming rocks, there falling in cascades amid the purple 
vapor: and lower down a thousand streams united in one large 
river, which ran boiling into the sea. 

The volcano seemed to have but a single crater, whence arose a 
column of fire, lighted by transverse rays ; one would have said 
that part of the magnificence of the phenomenon was due to 
electricity. Above the flames floated an immense cloud of smoke, 
red below, black above. It rose with great majesty, and unrolled 
into huge layers. 

The sky at a considerable height had an ashy hue; the dark- 
ness, which was so marked during the tempest, and of which the 
doctor could give no satisfactory explanation, evidently came from 
the ashes, which completely hid the sun. He remembered a 
similar fact that took place in 1812, at the Barbadoes, which at 
noon was plunged into total darkness by the mass of cinders 
thrown from the crater of Isle St. Vincent. 

This enormous volcano, jutting up in mid-ocean, was about six 





* 


176 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS: 


thousand feet high, very nearly the altitude of Hecla. A line 
from the summit to the base would form with the horizon an 
angle of about cleven degrees. It seemed to rise from the bosom 
of the waves as the launch approached it. There was no trace 
of vegetation. There was no shore ; it ran down steep to the sea. 

“Shall we be able to land?” said the doctor. 

“The wind is carrying us there,” answered Altamont. 

“But I can’t see any beach on which we could set foot.” 

“So it seems from here,” answered Johnson ; “but we shall 
find some place for our boat; that is all we need.” 

“Let us go on, then!” answered Clawbonny, sadly. 

The doctor had no eyes for the strange continent which was 
rising before him. The land of the Pole was there, but not the 
man who had discovered it. Five hundred feet from the rocks 
the sea was boiling under the action of subterraneous fires. The 
island was from eight to ten miles in circumference, no more ; and, 
according to their calculation, it was very near the Pole, if indeed 
the axis of the world did not pass exactly through it. As they 
drew near they noticed a little fiord large enough to shelter their 
boat ; they sailed towards it, filled with the fear of finding* the 
captain’s body cast ashore by the tempest. 

Still, it seemed unlikely that any corpse should rest there ; 
there was no beach, and the sea beat against the steep rocks ; 
thick ashes, on which no human foot had ever stepped, covered 
the ground beyond the reach of the waves. At last the launch 
slipped between the breakers, and there she was perfectly shel- 
tered against the surf. Then Duke’s lamentable howling re-_ 
doubled ; the poor animal called for the captain with his sad wails 
among the rocks. His barking was vain; and the doctor caressed 
him, without being able to calm him, when the faithful dog, as if 
he wanted to replace his master, made a prodigious leap, and was the 
first to get ashore amid the dust and ashes which flew about him. 

“Duke! Duke!” said the doctor. 

Duke did not hear him, but disappeared. The men then went 
ashore, and made the launch fast. Altamont was preparing to 
climb up a large pile of rocks, when Duke’s distant barking was — 
heard ; it expressed pain, not wrath. 








Z 
% 












































































































































“This drifting floe was covered with white bears, crowded together.”’ — Page 172. 





THE DESERT OF ICE. ss 177 





“Listen !” said the doctor. 

“Has he got on the track of some animal?” asked the boat- 
swain. 

“No,” answered the doctor, quivering with emotion; “he ’s 
mourning, crying! Hatteras’s body is there!” 

At these words the four men started after Duke, in the midst 
of blinding cinders ; they reached the end of the fiord, a little place 
ten feet broad, where the waves were gently breaking. There 
Duke was barking near a body wrapped up in the English flag. 

“ Hatteras, Hatteras!” cried the doctor, rushing to the body 
of his friend. 

But at once he uttered an explanation which it is impossible 
to render. This bleeding and apparently lifeless body had just 
given signs of life. 

“‘ Alive, alive!” he cried. 

“Yes,” said a feeble voice, “living on the land of the Pole, 
where the tempest cast me up! Living on Queen Island!” 

“ Hurrah for England!” cried the five together. 

“And for America!” added the doctor, holding out one hand 
to Hatteras and the other to Altamont. Duke, too, hurrahed in 
his own way, which was as good as any other. 

At first these kind-hearted men were wholly given up to the 
pleasure of seeing their captain again ; they felt the tears welling 
up into their eyes. The doctor examined Hatteras’s condition. 
He was not seriously injured. The wind had carried him to the 
shore, where it was hard to land; the bold sailor, often beaten 
back, at last succeeded in clambering upon a rock above the reach 
of the waves. Then he lost consciousness, after wrapping himself 
up in his flag, and he only came to himself under Duke’s caresses 
and barking. After receiving a few attentions, Hatteras was able 
to rise, and, leaning on the doctor’s arm, to go to the launch. 

“The Pole, the North Pole!” he repeated as he walked along. 

“You are happy!” the doctor said to him. 

“Yes, happy! And you, my friend, don’t you feel happy at 
being here? ‘This land is the land of the Pole! This sea we 
have crossed is the sea of the Pole! This air we breathe is the 


air of the Pole! O, the North Pole, the North Pole!” 
. 84 





et aay 3 a ool 


oy 
LX 


Tes 
lou ck, 








178 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. z 


As he spoke, Hatteras was the victim of a violent excitement, a 
sort of fever, and the doctor in vain tried to calm him. His eyes 
were strangely bright, and his thoughts were boiling within him. 
Clawbonny ascribed this condition to the terrible perils he had 
gone through. Hatteras evidently needed rest, and they set 
about seeking a place to camp. Altamont soon found a grotto 
in the rocks, which had fallen in such a way a to form a cavern. 
Johnson and Bell brought provisions there, and let loose the dogs. 
Towards eleven o'clock everything was prepared for a meal ; the 
canvas of the tent served as a cloth ; the breakfast, consisting of 
pemmican, salt meat, tea and coffee, was set and soon devoured. 
But first, Hatteras demanded that an observation should be 
made; he wanted to know its position exactly. The doctor and 
Altamont then took their instruments, and after taking an obser- 
tion they found the precise position of the grotto to be latitude 
89° 59’ 15”. The longitude at this height was of no importance, 
for all the meridians run together within a few hundred feet 
higher. So in reality the island was situated at the North Pole, 
and the ninetieth degree of latitude was only forty-five seconds 
from there, exactly three quarters of a mile, that, is to say, to- 
wards the top of the voleano. When Hatteras knew this result, 
he asked that it should be stated in two documents, one to be 
placed in a cairn on the shore. So at once the doctor took bis 
pen and wrote the following document, one copy of which is now 
in the archives of the Royal Geographical Society in London : — 


“July 11, 1861, in north latitude 89° 59’ 15”, ‘ Queen Island ’ 
was discovered at the North Pole by Captain Hatteras, command- 
ing the brig Yorward of Liverpool, who has set his name hereto, 
with his companions. Whoever shall find this document is en- 
treated to forward it to the Admiralty. 

(Signed ) Joun Harreras, Captain of the Forward. 
Dr. CLAWBONNY. 
ALTamont, Captain of the Porpoise. 
JOHNSON, Boatswain. 
BE, Carpenter.” 


“And now, my friends, to table!” said the doctor, gayly. 


2 


























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































among the waves.” — Page 173. 








a ee ay a {Per ome Rade esr ites aoe auF 





CHAPTER XXIV. 
POLAR COSMOGRAPHY. 


OF course, to eat at table, they were obliged to sit on the 
ground. 

“But,” said Clawbonny, “who wouldn’t give all the tables 
and dining-rooms in the world, to dine in north latitude 89° 
oo ip’ 2” - 

The thoughts of each one were about their situation. They 
had no other idea than the North Pole. The dangers they had 
undergone to reach it, those to overcome before returning, were 
forgotten in their unprecedented success. What neither Euro- 
peans, Americans, nor Asiatics had been able to do, they had 
accomplished. Hence they were all ready to listen to the doctor 
when he told them all that his inexhaustible memory could 
recall about their position. It was with real enthusiasm that he 
first proposed their captain’s health. 

“To John Hatteras!” he said. 

- “To John Hatteras!” repeated the others. 

“To the North Pole!” answered the captain, with a warmth 
that was unusual in this man who was usually so self-restrained, 
but who now was in a state of great nervous excitement. They 
touched glasses, and the toasts were followed by earnest hand- 
shakings. 

“Tt is,” said the doctor, “the most important geographical fact 
of our day! Who would have thought that this discovery would 
precede that of the centre of Africa or Australia? Really, Hat- 
teras, you are greater than Livingstone, Burton, and Barth! All 
honor to you!” 

“You are right, Doctor,” said Altamont ; “it would seem, from 
the difficulty of the undertaking, that the Pole would be the 
- last place discovered. Whenever the government was absolutely 
determined to know the middle of Africa, it would have suc- 


~ THE DESERT OF ICE. << 179 | 





tf 


ERECT EN! y e 


— 
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itt, 


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le A ah Het Me ee Gh 


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A i oe ow Dt 


&. 
— 


180 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


ceeded at the cost of so many men and so much money; but 
here nothing is less certain than success, and there might be 
obstacles really insuperable.” 

“Tnsuperable!” cried Hatteras with warmth; “there are no 
insuperable obstacles ; there are more or less determined minds, 
that is all!” 

* Well,” said Johnson, “we are here, and it is well. But, 
Doctor, will you tell me, once for all, what there is so remarkable 
about the Pole?” 

“Tt is this, Johnson, that it is the only motionless part of the 
globe, while all the rest is turning with extreme rapidity.” 

“But I don’t see that we are more motionless here than at 
Liverpool.” 

“No more than you perceive the motion at Liverpool; and 
that is because in both cases you participate in the movement 
or the repose. But the fact is no less certain. The earth rotates 
in twenty-four hours, and this motion is on an axis with its 
extremities at the two poles. Well, we are at one of the ex- 
tremities of the axis, which is necessarily motionless.” 

“So,” said Bell, “when our countrymen are turning rapidly, 
we are perfectly still ?” 

“Very nearly, for we are not exactly at the Pole.” 

“You are right, Doctor,” said Hatteras seriously, and shaking 
his head ; “we are still forty-five seconds from the precise spot.” 

“That is not far,” answered Altamont, ‘and we can consider v 
ourselves motionless.” 

“Yes,” continued the doctor, ‘while those living at the equa- 4 
tor move at the rate of three hundred and ninety-six leagues an a 
hour.” 

“And without getting tired!” said Bell. 

“Exactly!” answered the doctor. 

“ But,” continued Johnson, “ besides this movement of rotation, 
does n’t the earth also move mhout the sun?” 

“Yes, and this takes a year.” 

“Ts it swifter than the other?” 

“Tnfinitely so; and { ought to say that, although we are at 
the Pole, it takes us with it as well as all the people in the 



















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































‘©The mountain was in full eruption.” — Page 175 








THE DESERT OF ICE. 181 


world. So our pretended immobility is a chimera: we are 
motionless with regard to the other points of the globe, but not 
so with regard to the sun.” 

“Good!” said Bell, with an accent of comic regret ; “so I, who 
thought I was still, was mistaken! This illusion has to be given 
up! One can’t have a moment’s peace in this world.” 

“You are right, Bell,” answered Johnson; ‘and will you tell 
us, Doctor, how fast this motion is?” 

“Tt is very fast,” answered the doctor; “the earth moves 
around the sun seventy-six times faster than a twenty-four-pound 
cannon-ball flies, which goes one hundred and ninety-five fathoms 
asecond. It moves, then, seven leagues and six tenths per second ; 
you see it is very different from the diurnal movement of the 
equator.” 

“The deuce!” said Bell; “that is incredible, Doctor! More 
than seven leagues a second, and that when it would have been 
so easy to be motionless, if God had wished it!” 

“Good!” said Altamont ; ‘do you think so, Bell? In that case 
no more night, nor spring, nor autumn, nor winter!” 

“Without considering a still more terrible result,” continued 
the doctor. 

“What is that?” asked Johnson. 

“We should all fall into the sun!” 

“ Fall into the sun!” repeated Bell with surprise. 

“Yes. If this motion were to stop, the earth would fall into 
the sun in sixty-four days and a half.” 

“A fall of sixty-four days!” said Johnson. 

“No more nor less,” answered the doctor; “for it would have 
to fall a distance of thirty-eight millions of leagues.” 

“What is the weight of the earth?” asked Altamont. 

“Tt is five thousand eight hundred and ninety-one quadrillions 
of tons.” 

“Good!” said Johnson ; ‘those numbers have no meaning.” 

“For that reason, Johnson, I was going to give you two com- 
parisons which you could remember. Don’t forget that it would 
take seventy-five moons to make the sun, and three hundred and 


fifty thousand earths to make up the weight of the sun.” 
ban) 


182 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


“That is tremendous!” said Altamont. : 

“Tremendous is the word,” answered the doctor; “but, to 
return to the Pole, no lesson on cosmography on this part of the 
globe could be more opportune, if it does n’t weary you.” 

“Go on, Doctor, go on!” 

“T told you,” resumed the doctor, who took as much pleasure 
in giving as the others did in receiving instruction, — “I told 
you that the Pole was motionless in comparison with the rest 
of the globe. Well, that is not quite true!” 

“What!” said Bell, “has that got to be taken back?” 

“Yes, Bell, the Pole is not always exactly in the same place ; 
formerly the North Star was farther from the celestial pole than 
it is now. So our Pole has a certain motion ; it describes a circle 
in about twenty-six years. That comes from the precession of 
the equinoxes, of which I shall speak soon.” 

“But,” asked Altamont, ‘might it not happen that some day 
the Pole should get farther from its place?” 

“ Ah, my dear Altamont,” answered the doctor, “you bring up 
there a great question, which scientific men investigated for a 
long time in consequence of a singular discovery.” 

“What was that ?” 

“This is it. In 1771 the body of a rhinoceros was found on 
the shore of the Arctic Sea, and in 1799 that of an elephant on 
the coast of Siberia. How did the animals of warm countries 
happen to be found in these latitudes? Thereupon there was 
much commotion among geologists, who were not so wise as a 
Frenchman, M. Elie de Beaumont, has been since. He showed 
that these animals used to live in rather high latitudes, and that 
the streams and rivers simply carried their bodies to the places 
where they were found. But do you know the explanation 
which scientific men gave before this one?” 

“Scientific men are capable of anything,” said Altamont. 

“Yes, in explanation of a fact; well, they imagined that the 
Pole used to be at the equator and the equator at the Pole.” 

** Bah !” 

“Tt was exactly what I tell you. Now, if it had been so, since 
the earth is flattened more than five leagues at the pole, the 














































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































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“They noticed a little fiord.”’ — Page 176. 








THE DESERT OF ICE. : 183 


‘seas, carried to the equator by centrifugal force, would have | 


covered mountains twice as high as the Himalayas; all the 
countries ‘near the polar circle, Sweden, Norway, Russia, Siberia, 
Greenland, and New Britain, would have been buried in five 
leagues of water, while the regions at the equator, having become 
the pole, would have formed plateaus fifteen leagues high !” 
“What a change!” said Johnson. 
“QO, that made no difference to scientific men!’ 
“ And how did they explain the alteration?” asked Altamont. 
“They said it was due to the shock of collision with a comet. 
The comet is the deus ex machina; whenever one comes to a 
difficult question in cosmography, a comet is Ingged in. It is 


b] 


the most obliging of the heavenly bodies, and at the least sign | 


from a scientific man it disarranges itself to arrange every- 
thing.” 

“Then,” said Johnson, “according to you, Doctor, this change 
is impossible ?” 

“ Tmpossible !” 

‘And if it should take place ?” 

“Tf it did, the equator would be frozen in twenty-four hours 

“Good! if it were to take place now,” said Bell, “people would 
as likely as not say we had never gone to the Pole.” 

“Calm yourself, Bell. To return to the immobility of the ter- 
restrial axis, the following is the result: if we were to spend a 
winter here, we should see the stars describing a circle about us. 


9 


As for the sun, the day ‘of the vernal equinox, March 23d, it 
would appear to us (I take no account of refraction) exactly cut 
in two by the horizon, and would rise gradually in longer and 
longer curves; but here it is remarkable that when it has once 
risen it sets no more; it is visible for six months. ‘Then its 
disk touches the horizon again at the autumnal equinox, Septem- 
ber 22d, and as soon as it is set, it is seen no more again all 
winter.” 

“You were speaking just now of the flattening of the earth at 
the poles,” said Johnson; ‘be good enough to explain that, 
Doctor.” 

“T will. Since the earth was fluid when first created, you un- 





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184 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


derstand that its rotary movement would try to drive part of the 
mobile mass to the equator, where the centrifugal force was 
greater. If the earth had been motionless, it would have 
remained a perfect sphere ; but in consequence of the phenome- 
non I have just described, it has an ellipsoidal form, and points 
at the pole are nearer the centre of the earth than points at the 
equator by about five leagues.” 

“So,” said Johnson, “if our captain wanted to take us to the 
centre of the earth, we should have five leagues less to go?” 

“ Exactly, my friend.” 

“Well, Captain, it’s so much gained! We ought to avail our- 
selves of it.” 

But Hatteras did not answer. Evidently he had lost all inter- 
est in the conversation, or perhaps he was listening without 
hearing. 

“Well,” answered the doctor, “according to certain scientific 
men, it would be worth while to try this expedition.” 

“What! really?” exclaimed Johnson. 

“But let me finish,” answered the doctor. “TI willtell you. I 
must first tell you this flattening of the poles is the cause of the 
precession of the equinoxes; that is to say, why every year the 
vernal equinox comes a day sooner than it would if the earth 
were perfectly round. This comes from the attraction of the sun 
operating in a different way on the heaped-up land of the equator, 
which then experiences a retrograde movement. Subsequently it 
displaces this Pole a little, as I just said. But, independently of 
this effect, this flattening ought to have a more curious and more 
personal effect, which we should perceive if we had mathematical 
sensibility.” 

“What do you mean?” asked Bell. 

“T mean that we are heavier here than at Liverpool.” 

“ Heavier ?” 

“Yes; ourselves, the dogs, our guns, and instruments !” 

“Ts it possible ?” 

“Certainly, and for two reasons: the first is, that we are nearer 
the centre of the globe, which consequently attracts us more 
strongly, and this force of gravitation is nothing but weight ; the 


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THE DESERT OF ICE. 185 





: - second is, the rotary force, which is nothing at the pole, is very. 
marked at the equator, and objects there have a tendency to fly 
from the earth : they are less heavy.” 

“What!” exclaimed Johnson, seriously ; “‘ have we not the same 
weight everywhere ?” 

* No, Johnson ; according to Newton’s law, bodies attract one 
another directly as their masses, and inversely to the square of 
their distances. Here I weigh more, because I am nearer the 
centre of attraction ; and on another planet I should weigh more 
or less according to the mass of the planet.” 

“What!” said Bell, “in the moon —” 

“Tn the moon my weight, which is two hundred pounds at 
Liverpool, would be only thirty-two pounds.” 

“ And in the sun ?” 

“QO, in the sun I should weigh more than five thousand 
pounds !” 

“Heavens!” said Bell; “you’d need a derrick to move your 
legs.” 

“Probably,” answered the doctor, laughing at Bell’s amaze- 
ment; “but here the difference is imperceptible, and by an equal 
effort of the muscles Bell would leap as high as on the docks 
at Liverpool.” 

“Yes, but in the sun?” urged Bell. 

“My friend,” answered the doctor, “the upshot of it all is that 
we are well off where we are, and need not want to go elsewhere.” 

“You said just now,” resumed Altamont, ‘‘ that perhaps it 
would be worth while to make a journey to the centre of the 
world ; has such an undertaking ever been thought off ?” 

“Yes, and this is all I’m going to say about the Pole. There is 
no point in the world which has given rise to more chimeras and 
hypotheses. The ancients, in their ignorance, placed the garden 
of the Hesperides there. In the Middle Ages it was supposed 
that the earth was upheld on axles placed at the poles, on which 
it revolved ; but when comets were seen moving freely, that idea 
had to be given up. Later, there was a French astronomer, 
Bailly, who said that the lost people mentioned by Plato, the 
Atlantides, lived here. Finally, it has been asserted in our own 


a a “a - 





186 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


time that there was an immense opening at the poles, from which 
came the Northern Lights, and through which one could reach 


the inside of the earth; since in the hollow sphere two planets, 
Pluto and Proserpine, were said to move, and the air was lumi- 
nous in consequence of the strong pressure it felt.” 

“That has been maintained?” asked Altamont. 

“Yes, it has been written about seriously. Captain Symmes, 
a countryman of ours, proposed to Sir Humphry Davy, Hum- 
boldt, and Arago, to undertake the voyage! But they declined.” 

“And they did well.” 

“JT think so. Whatever it may be, you see, my friends, that 
the imagination has busied itself about the Pole, and that sooner 
or later we must come to the reality.” 

“At any rate, we shall sce for ourselves,” said Johnson, who 
clung to his idea. 

“Then, to-morrow we’ll start,” said the doctor, smiling at 
seeing the old sailor but half convinced ; “and if there is any 
opening to the centre of the earth, we shall go there together.” 


CHAPTER. XX 
MOUNT HATTERAS. 


Arter this solid conversation every one made himself as com- 
fortable as possible in the cavern, and soon fell asleep. Every 
one, that is, except Hatteras. Why did not this strange man 
sleep ? 

Was not the object of his life attained? Had he not accom- 
plished the bold projects which lay so near his heart? Why did 


not calmness succeed the agitation in his ardent mind? Would” 


not one suppose that, when he had accomplished this end, Hat- 
teras would fall into a sort of dejection, and that his over- 
stretched nerves would seek repose? After succeeding, it would 
seem natural that he should be seized with the feeling of sadness, 
which always follows satisfied desires. 








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Pe eee eee 
























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































178, 


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grotto in the rocks. 


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Se Bi ie ater Tl 5 ny . Pen eee Ne ee a i 
Bey Se PS a iia 3S z ; F 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 187 





But no. He was only more excited. It was not, however, the 
thought of returning which agitated him so. Did he wish to go 
farther? Was there no limit to his ambition, and did he find the 
world too small, because he had been around it? However this 
may have been, he could not sleep. And yet this first night 
spent at the pole of the world was pleasant and quiet. The 
island was absolutely uninhabited. There was not a bird in its 
fire-impregnated atmosphere, not an animal on the soil of cinders, 
not a fish in its boiling waters. Only afar off the dull murmur 
‘of the mountain, from the summit of which arose puffs of hot 
smoke. 

When Bell, Johnson, Altamont, and the doctor awoke, Hatteras 
was not to be seen near them. Being anxious, they left the cave, 
and saw the captain standing ona rock. His eyes were fixed on 
the top of the volcano. He held his instruments in his hands, 
having evidently been calculating the exact height of the moun- 
tain. The doctor went up to him and spoke to him several times 
before he could rouse him from his revery. At last the captain 
seemed to understand him. 

“Forward!” said the doctor, who was examining him atten- 
tively, —‘‘forward! let us explore our island; we are all ready 
for our last excursion.” 

“Our last,” said Hatteras, with the intonation of people who 
are dreaming aloud; “yes, the last, indeed. But also,” he con- 
tinued with great animation, “the most wonderful !” 

He spoke in this way, rubbing his hands over his brow as if to 
allay its throbbing. At that moment, Altamont, Johnson, and 
Bell joined him ; Hatteras appeared to awaken from his revery. 

“ My friends,” he said with emotion, “thanks for your courage, 
thanks for your perseverance, thanks for your superhuman efforts, 
which have allowed us to set foot on this land !” 

“Captain!” said Johnson, “ we have only obeyed ; all the honor 
is due to you alone!” 

“No, no!” resumed Hatteras with emotion; “to you as much 
as to me! to Altamont as well as to all of us! as to the doctor 
himself— 0, let my heart well over in your hands! It can no 
longer restrain its joy and gratitude !” 


7 


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188 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


Hatteras clasped the hands of his companions. He walked to 
and fro, no longer master of himself. 

“We have only done our duty as Englishmen,” said Bell. 

“Our duty as friends,” continued the doctor. 

“Yes,” said Hatteras, “but all have not performed this duty. 
Some have given way! Still, they must be pardoned, both who 
were treacherous, and those who were led away to it! Poor men! 
I forgive them. You understand me, Doctor?” 

“Yes,” answered the doctor, who was very uneasy at Hatteras’s 
excitement. 

“So,” went on the captain, “I don’t want them to lose the 
money they came so far to seek. No, I sball not alter my plan ; | 
they shall be rich, — if they ever see England again!” E 


as ; 
or eros, 


Few could have withstood the tenderness with which Hatteras 
spoke these last words. ” 
“But, Captain,” said Johnson, with an effort at pleasantry, . 
“one would say you were making your will.” 4 
“Perhaps I am,” answered Hatteras, seriously. . 
“Still you have before you a long and glorious life,” continued ; 
the old sailor. 3 
“Who can say ?” said Hatteras. ‘a 
A long silence followed these words. The doctor did not. dare : 
to try to interpret the last remark. But Hatteras soon expressed ; 
his meaning, for in a hasty, hardly restrained voice, he went 4 
on :— : a 
“‘ My friends, listen to me. We have done a good deal so far, “9 
and yet there is a good deal to do.” a 
His companions gazed at him in astonishment. é. 


“Yes, we are on the land of the Pole, but we are not on the 
Pole itself! ” 

* How so?” asked Altamont. 

“You don’t mean it!” 

“Yes!” resumed Hatteras, earnestly, “I said that an English, 
man should set foot on the Pole; I said it, and an Englishman 
shall do it.” 

“ What!” ejaculated the doctor. 


“We are now forty-five seconds from the unknown point,” 


cried the doctor, anxiously. 












































“ They were all ready to listen to the doctor.’? — Page 179. 





PMA Wl A ad 


es “5 Z 





THE DESERT OF ICE. 189 


Hatteras went on, with increasing animation ; “where it is, lam 
going!” 

“But that is the top of the voleano!” said the doctor. 

“Tm going!” 

“Tt ’s an inaccessible spot !” 

-“T’m going !” 

“It’s a fiery crater!” 

“T’m going!” 

The firmness with which Hatteras uttered these words cannot 
be given. His friends were stupefied ; they gazed with horror at 
the yvoleano tipped with flame. Then the doctor began; he 
urged and besought Hatteras to give up his design; he said 
everything he could imagine, from entreaty to well-meant threats ; 
but he obtained no concession from the nervous captain, who was 
possessed with a sort of madness which may be called polar mad- 
ness. Only violent means could stop him, rushing to his ruin. 
But seeing that thereby they would produce serious results, the 
doctor wished to keep them for a last resource. He hoped, too, 
that some physical impossibility, some unsurmountable difficulty, 
would compel him to give up his plan. 

“Since it is so,” he said, ‘“ we shall follow you.” 

“Yes,” answered the captain, “ half-way up the mountain! No 
farther! Have n’t you got to carry back to England the copy of 
the document which proves our discovery, in case —” 

“Still —” 

“Tt is settled,” said Hatteras, in a tone of command ; “and since 
my entreaties as a friend are not enough, I order it as captain.” 

The doctor was unwilling to urge him any further, and a few 





moments later the little band, equipped for a hard climb, and 
preceded by Duke, set out. The sky was perfectly clear. The 
thermometer stood at 52°. The air had all the brillianey which 
is so marked at this high latitude. It was eight o’clock in the 
morning. Hatteras went ahead with his dog, the others followed 
close behind. 

“T’m anxious,” said Johnson. 

“No, no, there’s nothing to fear,” answered the doctor; “ we 
are here.” 


- 


“‘et<z 


p> 





ok, Sirs eae ee Shae 
190 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. | 


It was a strange island, in appearance so new and singular! 
The volcano did not seem old, and geologists would have ascribed 
a recent date to its formation. 

The rocks were heaped upon one another, and only kept in 
place by almost miraculous balancing. The mountain, in fact, 
was composed of nothing but stones that had fallen from above. 
There was no soil, no moss, no lichen, no trace of vegetation. 
The carbonic acid from the crater had not yet had time to unite 
with the hydrogen of the water; nor the ammonia of the clouds, 
to form under the action of the light, organized matter. This 
island had arisen from successive volcanic eruptions, like many 
other mountains ; what they have hurled forth has built them 
up. For instance, Etna has poured forth a volume of lava larger 
than itself; and the Monte Nuovo, near Naples, was formed 
by ashes in the short space of forty-eight hours. The heap of 
rocks composing Queen’s Island had evidently come from the 
bowels of the earth. Formerly the sea covered it all; it had 
been formed long since by the condensation of the vapor on the 
cooling globe ; but in proportion as the volcanoes of the Old and 
New World disappeared, they were replaced by new craters. 

In fact, the earth can be compared to a vast spheroidal boiler. 
Under the influence of the central fire an immense quantity of 
vapor is generated, which is éxposed to a pressure of thousands 
of atmospheres, and which would blow up the globe, were it not 
for the safety-valves opening on the outside. 

These safety-valves are the volcanoes; when one closes, an- 
other opens; and at the poles, where, doubtless in consequence _ 
of the flattening of the earth’s surface, the crust is thinner, it is 
not strange that a voleano should be suddenly formed by the 
upheaval of the bottom of the waves. The doctor noticed all 
this as he followed Hatteras; his foot sank into a voleanic tufa, 
and the deposits of ashes, volcanic stones, etc., like the syenite 
and granite of Iceland. But he attributed a comparatively 
recent origin to the island, on account of the fact that no sedi- 
mentary soil had yet formed upon it. Water, too, was lacking. — zs 
If Queen’s Island had existed for several years, there would have ab 


ages 


been springs upon it, as there are in the neighborhood of vol- 















































































































































































































































































































































«They saw the captain standing on a rock.”’ — Page 187, - 


$° = 








~ 


ee ee ee Be A eS ee ye le eee. eee oe 


THE DESERT OF ICE. 191 


canoes. Now, not only was there no drop of water there, but 


the vapors which arose from the stream of lava seemed abso- 


lutely anhydrous. 

This island, then, was of recent formation ; and since it ap- 
peared in one day, it might disappear in another and sink be- 
neath the ocean. 

The ascent grew more difficult the higher they went ; the sides 
of the mountain became nearly perpendicular, and they had to 
be very careful to avoid accident. Often columns of cinders were 
blown about them and threatened to choke them, or torrents 
of lava barred their path. On some such places these streams 
were hard on top, but the molten stream flowed beneath. Each 
one had to test it first to escape sinking into the glowing mass. 
From time to time the crater vomited forth huge red-hot rocks 
amid burning gases; some of these bodies burst in the air like 
shells, and the fragments were hurled far off in all directions. 
The innumerable dangers of this ascent may be readily per- 
ceived, as well as the foolhardiness of the attempt. 

Still, Hatteras climbed with wonderful agility, and while spurn- 
ing the use of his iron-tipped staff, he ascended the steepest 
slopes. He soon reached a circular rock, which formed a sort 
of plateau about ten feet broad; a glowing stream surrounded 
it, which was divided at the corner by a higher rock, and left 
only a narrow passage through which Hatteras slipped boldly. 
There he stopped, and his companions were able to join him. 
Then he seemed to estimate the distance yet remaining ; hori- 
zontally there were only about six hundred feet of the crater 
remaining, that is to say, from the mathematical point of the 
Pole ; but vertically they had fifteen hundred feet yet to climb. 
The ascent had already taken three hours; Hatteras did not 
seem tired ; his companions were exhausted. 

The top of the volcano seemed inaccessible. The doctor wished 
at any risk to keep Hatteras from going higher. At first he 
tried gentle means, but the captain’s excitement amounted to 
delirium ; on the way he had exhibited all the signs of growing 
madness, and whoever has known him in the different scenes of 
his life cannot be surprised. In proportion as Hatteras rose 


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192. THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


above the ocean his excitement increased ; he lived no longer with 
men ; he thought he was growing larger with the mountain itself. 

“Hatteras,” said the doctor, ‘this is far enough! we can’t go 
any farther!” 

“Stay where you are, then,” answered the captain in a strange 
voice ; ‘I shall go higher!” 

“No! that’s useless! you are at the Pole here!” 

“No, no, higher!” 

‘““My friend, it’s I who am speaking to you, Dr. Clawbonny! 
Don’t you know me?” 

“Higher! higher!” repeated the madman. 

“ Well, no, we sha’ n’t let —” 

The doctor had not finished the sentence before Hatteras, by 
a violent effort, sprang over the stream of lava and was out of 
their reach. They uttered a ery, thinking Hatteras was lost in 
the fiery abyss; but he had reached the other side, followed by 
Duke, who was unwilling to abandon him. 

He disappeared behind a puff of smoke, and his voice was 
heard growing fainter and fainter in the distance. 

“To the north!” he was shouting, “to the top of Mount Hat- 
teras! Do you remember Mount Hatteras?” 


They could not think of getting up to him; there were twenty __ 


chances to one against their being able to cross the stream he 
had leaped over with the skill and luck of madmen. Nor could 
they get around it. Altamont in vain tried to pass; he was 


nearly lost in trying to cross the stream of lava; his companions 


were obliged to hold him by force. 

“Hatteras, Hatteras!” shouted the doctor. 

But the captain did not answer; Duke’s barking alone was 
heard upon the mountain. 

















Still, Hatteras could be seen at intervals through the column — a 


of smoke and the showers of cinders. Sometimes his arm or head 
would emerge from the whirlwind. Then he would disappear 
and be seen again higher up in the rocks. His height diminished 
with the fantastic swiftness of objects rising in the air. Half an ~ 
hour later he seemed but a fraction of his usual size. 


The air was filled with the dull noises of the volcano ; the 2 


¥ res 
ty 

























































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































‘ Hatteras appeared to wake from his revery.”’ — Page 187. ‘ 

















¢ aly. 
+ cite 


THE | DESERT OR eR Sot te 


= yuntain was. ‘poaring like a boiler, its sides were ‘quivering. 
"Hatteras kept on, and Duke followed. From time to time some 
mormous rock would give way beneath them and go crashing 


_ down to the sea. But Hatteras did not look back. He had aa 









| Be ae His companions observed every one Sue his movements: a ee: 
_ His dimensions became gradually smaller, and Duke seemed no _ 
larger than a rat. One moment the wind seemed to drive down — 2 
upon them a great wave of flame. The doctor uttered a cry of om 
anguish, but Hatteras reappeared, standing and brandishing the _ 
flag. ey 
This sight lasted for more than an heur, —an hour of struggle 
- with the trembling rocks, with the beds of ashes into which this = 
madman would sink up to the waist. Now he would be climbing 
on his knees and making use of every inequality in the mountain, | ; 
and now he would hang by his hands at sonre sharp corner, er S 
swinging in the wind like a dry leaf. Re 
At last he reached the top, the yawning mouth of the crater. e 
The doctor then hoped that the wretched man, having attained 
his object, would perhaps return and have only those dangers e. 
before him. “gi 

He gave a last shout. 
“Hatteras, Hatteras!” bc 

' The doctor’s cry moved the American’s heart so that he cried ~ 

: out, — 2 
“T will save him!” . 
Then with one leap crossing the fiery torrent at the risk of 
falling in, he disappeared among the rocks. Clawbonny did not 
have time to stop him. Still, Hatteras, having reached the top, 
was climbing on top of a rock which overhung the abyss. The E , 
stones were raining about him. Duke was still following hi 
The poor beast seemed already dizzy at the sight beneath him, — 
‘Hatteras was whirling about his head the flag, which was lighted — 


with the brilliant reflection, and the red bunting could be seen’ 3 
z above the crater. With one hand Hatteras was holding it ; with : 

___ the other he was pointing to the zenith, the celestial pole. Still 
he seemed to hesitate. He was seeking the mathematical point . ee. 


er a 
> * 





194 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN IATTERAS. si 





where all the mer:dians meet, and on which in his sublime obsti- ah 
nacy he wanted to set his foot. 

Suddeuly the rock gave way beneath him. He disappeared. 
A terrible cry from his oes rose even to the summit of 
the mountain. y — passed! Clawbonny 
considered his friend ject and bined forever in the depths of the 
volcano. But Altamont was there, and Duke too. The man and 











the dog had seized him just when he was disappearing in the 
abyss. Hatteras was saved, saved in spite of himself, and half 
an hour later the captain of the /orward lay unconscious in 
the arms of his despairing friends. 





































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































When he came to himself, the doctor gave him a questioning 
glance in mute agony. But his vague look, like that of a blind 
man, made no reply. 

“Heavens!” said Johnson, “he is blind!” 

“no! My poor friends, we 





“No,” answered Clawbonny, 
have saved Hatteras’s body! His mind is at the top of the 
voleano! He has lost his reason!” 

“Mad?” cried Johnson and Altamont in deep distress. 

“ Mad!” answered the doctor. 

And he wept bitterly. 















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































M 
re 
“ But Hatteras did not look back. He had made use of his staff as a pole on 
which to fasten the English flag.”’ — Page 193. 
: 


88 








THE DESERT OF ICE. 195 


CHAPTER’ XXXVI. 
RETURN TO THE SOUTH. 


Taree hours after this sad conclusion to the adventures of 
Captain Hatteras, Clawbonny, Altamont, and the two sailors 
were assembled in the cavern at the foot of the volcano. Then 
Clawbonny was asked to give his opinion on what was to be 
done. 

“My friends,” he said, “we cannot prolong our stay at Queen’s 
Island ; the sea is open before us; our provisions are sufficient ; 
we must set out and reach Fort Providence as soon as possible, 
and we can go into winter-quarters till next summer.” 

“That is my opinion,” said Altamont ; “the wind is fair, and 
to-morrow we shall set sail.” 

The day passed in great gloom. The captain’s madness was 
a sad foreboding, and when Johnson, Bell, and Altamont thought 
of their return, they were afraid of their loneliness and remote- 
ness. They felt the need of Hatteras’s bold soul. Still, like 
energetic men they made ready for a new struggle with the 
elements, and with themselves, in case they should feel them- 
selves growing faint-hearted. 

The next day, Saturday, July 13th, the camping materials were 
put on the boat, and soon everything was ready for their depart- 
ure. But before leaving this rock forever, the doctor, following 
Hatteras’s intentions, put up a cairn at the place where the 
captain reached the island; this cairn was built of large ‘rocks 
laid on one another, so as to form a perfectly visible landmark, 
if it were not destroyed by the eruption. 

On one of the lateral stones Bell carved with a chisel this 
simple inscription : — 

JOHN HATTERAS 
1861. 


A copy of the document was placed inside of the cairn in an 































196 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN IA TTERAS, ; 


hermetically sealed tin cylinder, and the proof of this great dis- 
covery was left here on these lonely rocks. 

Then the four men and the captain, —a poor body without a 
mind, 





and his faithful Duke, sad and melancholy, got into the 

boat for the return voyage. It was ten o’clock in the morning: 
_A new sail was set up with the canvas of the tent. The launch, 
suling before the wind, left Queen’s Island, and that evening the 
doctor, standing on his bench, waved a last farewell to Mount 
Hatteras, which was lighting up the horizon. 

Their voyage was very quick; the sea, which was always 
open, was easy sailing, and it seemed really easier to go away 
from the Pole than to approach it. But Hatteras was in-no 
state to understand what was going on about him; he lay at full ~~ 
length in the launch, his mouth closed, his expression dull, and ; 
his arms folded. Duke lay at his feet. It was in vain that the : 
doctor questioned him. Hatteras did not hear him. oe 

For forty-eight hours the breeze was fair and the sea smooth. 
Clawbonny and his companions rejoiced in the north-wind. July = 
15th, they made Altamont Harbor in the south; but since the 
Polar Ocean was open all along the coast, instead of crossing New 
America by sledge, they resolved to sail around it, and reach eC 
Victoria Bay by sea. This voyage was quicker and easier. In 
fact, the space which had taken them a fortnight on sledges took 
them hardly a week by sail; and after following the rugged out- 
line of the coast, which was fringed with numerous fiords, and 
determining its shape, they reached Victoria Bay, Monday even- 
ing, July 23d. 

The launch was firmly anchored to the shore, and each one ran 
to Fort Providence. The Doctor’s House, the stores, the maga- 
zine, the fortifications, all had melted in the sun, and the supplies 
had been devoured by hungry beasts. 

It was a sad sight. 

They were nearly at the end of their supplies, and they had 
intended to renew them at Fort Providence. The impossibility ae 
of passing the winter there was evident. Like people accustomed : 
to decide rapidly, they determined to reach Baffin’s Bay as soon 
as possible. 


4, ines a. 










































































































































































































































































































































































THE DESERT OF ICE, 197 


BS ts We have nothing else to do,” said the doctor ; “ Baffin’s Bay 
is not six hundred miles from here; we might sail as far as our 
aunch would carry us, reach Jones’s Sound, and from there the 
Danish settlements.” 

“Yes,” answered Altamont ; “let us collect all the provisions 
we can, and leave.” 

By strict search they found a few chests of pemmican here and 
there, and two barrels of preserved meat, which had escaped 
destruction. In short, they had a supply for six weeks, and 
powder enough. This was promptly collected. The day was 
devoted to calking the launch, repairing it, and the next day, 
July 24th, they put out to sea again. 

The continent towards latitude 83° inclined towards the east. 
It was possible that it joined the countries known under the 
name of Grinnell Land, Ellesmere, and North Lincoln, which form 
‘the coast-line of Baffin’s Bay. They could then hold it for cer- 
tain that Jones’s Sound opened in the inner seas, like Lancaster 
Sound. The launch then sailed without much difficulty, easily 
avoiding the floating ice. The doctor, by way of precaution 
against possible delay, put therm all on half-rations; but this did 
not trouble them much, and their health was unimpaired. 

Besides, they were able to shoot occasionally ; they killed 
ducks, geese, and other game, which gave them fresh and whole- 
some food. As for their drink, they had a full supply from the 
floating ice, which they met on the way, for they took care not 
to go far from the coast, the launch being too small for the open 
sea. 

At this period of the year the thermometer was already, for 
the greater part of time, beneath the freezing-point ; after a cer- 
tain amount of rainy weather snow began to fall, with other sigus 
of the end of summer ; the sun sank nearer the horizon, and more 
and more of its disk sank beneath it every day. July 30th they 
saw it disappear for the first time, that is to say, they had a few 
minutes of night. 

Still, the launch sailed well, sometimes making from sixty to 
seventy-five miles a day; they did not stop a moment; they 
knew what fatigues to endure, what obstacles to surmount ; the 


a, 


ee aS 


>’ ‘a at 
ee ae ee 


Ln, eerie 
a ae 


Ree 


YP ok fw ete 


2 


Ble Ban tia pou iek by 


a 


ere * oh . 
pie We SUN Sees rer 





















ey 


“THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTER. 





way by land was before them, if they fae to take it, an Me 
confined seas must soon be closed; indeed, the young ice 
already forming here and there. Winter suddenly succeeds 
summer in these latitudes ; there are no intermediate Seasons ; no 
spring, no autumn. So they had to hurry. July 31st, tie ay 
being clear at sunset, the first stars were seen in the constella-_ 
tions overhead. From this day on there was perpetual mist, 
which interfered very much with their sailing. The doctor, when ~ 
he saw all the sigus of winter's approach, became very uneasy; 
he knew the difficulties Sir John Ross had found in getting a8. os = 





















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































to pass the ice, he was obliged to return to his ship, and go into 
winter quarters for the fourth year ; but he had at least a shelter 
against the weather, food, and fuel. If such a misfortune were to i 
befall the survivors of the Morward, if they had to stop or put i 
back, they were lost ; the doctor did not express his uneasin 
to his companions ; but he urged them to get as far eastward ai 
ee d 


















































































































































































































































































































































** Dead — frozen.” — Page 201 


be 





THE DESERT OF ICE. Recents | 





dred times, they saw themselves absolutely stopped, unable to go 
farther ; the sea was all frozen, and the thermometer marked on 
an average -++-15°. Moreover, in all the north and east it was 
easy to detect the nearness of land, by the presence of pebbles ; 
frozen fresh water was found more frequently. Altamont made 
an observation with great exactness, and found they were in 
latitude 77° 15’, and longitude 85° 2’. 

“So, then,” said the doctor, “this is our exact position; we 
have reached North Lincoln, exactly at Cape Eden; we are en- 
tering Jones’s Sound ; if we had been a little luckier, we should 
have found the sea open to Baffin’s Bay. But we need not com- 
plain. If my poor Hatteras had at first found so open a sea, he 
would have soon reached the Pole, his companions would not have 
deserted him, and he would not have lost his reason under his 
terrible sufferings !” 

“Then,” said Altamont, “we have only one course to follow ; 
to abandon the launch, and get to the east coast of Lincoln by 
sledge.” 

“Abandon the launch and take the sledge? Well,” answered 
the doctor; “but instead of crossing Lincoln, I propose goin 
through Jones’s Sound on the ice, and reaching North Devon. 

“And why?” asked Altamont. 

“ Because we should get nearer to Lancaster Sound, and have 
more chance of meeting whalers.” 

“You are right, Doctor, but I am afraid the ice is not yet hard 
enough.” 

“We can try,” said Clawbonny. 

The launch was unloaded ; Bell and Johnson put the sledge 
together ; all its parts were in good condition. The next day the 
dogs were harnessed in, and they went along the coast to reach 
the ice-field. 

Then they began again the journey which has been so often 
described ; it was tiresome and slow; Altamont was right in 
doubting the strength of the ice; they could not go through 
Jones’s Sound, and they had to follow the coast of Lincoln. 

August 21st they turned to one side and reached the en- 
trance of Glacier Sound ; then they ventured upon the ice-field, 


oO 
Ss 
” 


ET eae, eee 


200 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS, 


and the next day they reached Cobourg Island, which they niet: 


crossed in less than two days amid snow-squalls. They could 
advance more easily on the ice-fields, and at last, August 24th, 
they set foot on North Devon. 

“Now,” said the doctor, “we have only to cross this, and 
reach Cape Warender, at the entrance of Lancaster Sound.” 

But the weather became very cold and unpleasant ; the snow- 
squalls became as violent as in winter ; they all found themselves 
nearly exhausted. Their provisions were giving out, and each 
man had but a third of a ration, in order to allow to the dogs 
enough food in proportion to their work. 

The nature of the ground added much to the fatigue of the 
journey ; North Devon was far from level; they had to cross 
the Trauter Mountains by almost impassable ravines, struggling 
against all the fury of the elements. The sledge, men, and 
dogs had to rest, and more than once despair seized the little 
band, hardened as it was to the fatigues of a polar journey. But, 
without their noticing it, these poor men were nearly worn out, 
physically and morally ; they could not support such incessant 
fatigue for eighteen months with impunity, nor such a succession 
of hopes and despairs. Besides, it should be borne in mind that 
they went forward with enthusiasm and conviction, which they 
lacked when returning. So they with difficulty dragged on; they 
walked almost from habit, with the animal energy left almost 
independent of their will. 

It was not until August 30th that they at last left the chaos of 
mountains, of which one can form no idea from the mountains of 
lower zones, but they left it half dead. The doctor could no 


longer cheer up his companions, and he felt himself breaking — 
down. The Trauter Mountains ended in a sort of rugged plain, — 


heaped up at the time of the formation of the mountains. There 


they were compelled to take a few days of rest ; the men could 


not set one foot before another; two of the dogs had died of ex- 
haustion. They sheltered themselves behind a piece of ice, at a 
temperature of —2°; no one dared put up the tent. Their food 
had become very scanty, and, in spite of their extreme economy — 


with their rations, they had a supply for but a weck more ; game — 






ty 


+e , lo 
ON Sy, 2 ee aie ee oe 


withinclar Se Listes 


m 


wy 
te Ee 


slat La 














A, a 


Pea, 


rem 









3 


THE DESERT OF ICE. RS nt ae 


; became rarer, having left for a milder climate. Starvation threat- 


. ened these exhausted men. 
- Altamont, who all along had shown great devotion and un- 






“resolved to procure by hunting some food for his companions. 
He took his gun, called Duke, and strode off for the plains to the 
north; the doctor, Johnson, and Bell saw him go away without 


they saw him returning without firing a single shot ; but he was 
re - running as if in great alarm. 








































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































““What is the matter?” asked the doctor. 


“There! under the snow!” answered Altamont in great 
alarm, indicating a point in the horizon. 

“What?” 

“A whole band of men —” 

“ Alive?” 


“ Dead, — frozen, — and even —” 
The American durst not not finish his sentence, but his face 
expressed clearly his horror. The doctor, Johnson, Bell, aroused 


by this incident, were able to rise, and drag themselves along in 


Altamont’s footprints to the part of the plain to which he had 


es. : 





Hee 
A 


Bs 





much interest. For an hour they did not once hear his gun, and 


A 


4 


aa, 
we 


“he 


Se 23, 
eee 


fas 


AM eI RA OES © ity 


Pa « 
iT Ce et et 


may 
o¥. 





902 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


% 

pointed. They soon reached a narrow space, at the bottom of a — 4 
deep ravine, and there a terrible sight met their eyes. 3 

Bodies were lying half buried beneath the snow ; here an arm, i 
there a leg, or clinched hands, and faces still preserving an ex- Li 
pression of despair. 2 

The doctor drew near; then he stepped back, pale and agi- 
tated, while Duke barked mournfully. 

“ Horror!” he said. 

“Well?” asked the boatswain. | 

“Did n’t you recognize them?” said the doctor in a strange 3 
voice. 4 

“ What do you mean 2” - 3 


“Look !” 

This ravine had been the scene of the last struggle between the 
men and the climate, despair, and hunger, for from some horri- 
ble signs it was easy to see that they had been obliged to eat 
human flesh. Among them the doctor had recognized Shandon, 
Penn, and the wretched crew of the Forward ; their strength and 
food had failed them ; their launch had probably been crushed by 
an avalanche, or carried into some ravine, and they could not 
take to the open sea; probably they were lost among these un- 
known continents. Besides, men who had left in mutiny could 
not long be united with the closeness which is necessary for the 
accomplishment of great things. A ringleader of a revolt has 
never more than a doubtful authority in his hands, And, without 
doubt, Shandon was promptly deposed. 

However that may have been, the crew had evidently under- ‘Se 
gone a thousand tortures, a thousand despairs, to end with this 
terrible catastrophe ; but the secret of their sufferings is forever — 
buried beneath the arctic snows. “oe 

“Let us flee!” cried the doctor. 

And he dragged his companions far from the scene of the 
disaster. Horror lent them momentary strength. They set out 
again. 


















THE DESERT OF ICE. 203 





CHAPTER XXVII. 


CONCLUSION. 


Y 


Way linger over the perpetual sufferings of the survivors 4 
They themselves could never recall to their memory a clear 
vision of what had happened in the week after their horrible’ 
discovery of the remains of the crew. However, September 9th, 


by a miracle of energy, they reached Cape Horsburgh, at the end 
of North Devon. 





























They were dying of hunger; they had not eaten for forty- 
eight hours, and their last meal had been the flesh of their last 
Esquimaux dog. Bell could go no farther, and old Johnson felt “ 
ready to dic. They were on the shore of Baffin’s Bay, on the way 
to Europe. Three miles from land the waves were breaking on 
the edges of the ice-field. They had to await the uncertain pas- . 

sage of a whaler, and how many days yet? : 


____ But Heaven took pity on them, for the next day Altamont 
aie. 40 





204 THE ADVENTURES OF CAPTAIN HATTERAS. 


clearly saw a sail. The anguish which follows such an appear — 
ance of a sail, the tortures of disappointment, are well known. 
The ship seemed to approach and then to recede. Terrible are — 
the alternations of hope and despair, and too often at the moment — 
the castaways consider themselves saved the sail sinks beneath 
the horizon. 

The doctor and his companions went through all these emo- 
tions; they had reached the western limit of the ice-field, and 
yet they saw the ship disappear, taking no note of their presence. 
They shouted, but in vain. 

Then the doctor had a last inspiration of that busy mind which 
had served him in such good stead. 

A floe had drifted against the ice-field. 

“That floe!” he said, pointing to it. 

They did not catch his meaning. 

“Let us get on it!” he cried. 

They saw his plan at once. 

“Ah, Clawbonny, Dr. Clawbonny !” cried Johnson, kissing the 
doctor’s hands. 

Bell, with Altamont’s aid, ran to the sledge; he brought one 
of the uprights, stood it up on the floe for a mast, making it fast 
with ropes; the tent was torn up for a sail. The wind was fair ; 
the poor castaways put out to sea on this frail raft. “ a 

Two hours later, after unheard-of efforts, the last men of the __ 
Forward were taken aboard the Danish whaler Hans Christian, 
which was sailing to Davis Strait. The captain received kindly ‘* 
these spectres who had lost their semblance to human beings; 
when he saw their sufferings he understood their history; he — 
gave them every attention, and managed to save their lives. Ten 
days later, Clawbonny, Johnson, Bell, Altamont, and Captain 
Hatteras landed at Korsceur, in Zeeland, in Denmark ; a steam- 
boat carried them to Kiel ; thence, xa Altona and Hamburg, they _ 
reached London the 13th of the same month, hardly recovered 
from their long sufferings. a 

The first thought of the doctor was to ask permission of the 2a 
Royal Geographical Society of London to lay a communciation _ Bes 
before it; he was admitted to the meeting of July 15th. © The. r 





» 
wm os 
Po My 






















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































“ A steamboat carried them to Kiel.’’ — Page 204. 





a ee | SR —_= = 
= ’ 






THE DESERT OF ICE. 205 © 


“astonishment of the learned assembly, and its enthusiastic cheers 
after reading Hatteras’s document, may be imagined. 

This journey, the only one of its kind, went over all the dis- 
 coveries that had been made in the regions about the Pole; it 
brought together the expeditions of Parry, Ross, Franklin, Mac- 
~Clure ; it completed the chart between the one hundredth and 
one hundred and fifteenth meridians ; and, finally, it ended with 
the point of the globe hitherto inaccessible, with the Pole itself. 

Never had news so unexpected burst upon astonished England. 

The English take great interest in geographical facts; they 
are proud of them, lord and cockney, from the merchant prince 
to the workman in the docks. 

The news of this great discovery was telegraphed over the 
United Kingdom with great rapidity; the papers printed the 
name of Hatteras at the head of their columns as that of a 
martyr, and England glowed with pride. 

The doctor and his companions were feasted everywhere ; they 
were formally presented to her Majesty by the Lord High Chan- 
cellor. 

The government confirmed the name of Queen’s Island for the 
rock at the North Pole, of Mount Hatteras for the mountain 
itself, and of Altamont Harbor for the port in New America. 

Altamont did not part from those whose misery and glory he 
had shared, and who were now his friends. He followed the- 
doctor, Johnson, and Bell to Liverpool, where they were warmly 
received, after they had been thought to be long dead, and buried 
in the eternal ice. 

But Dr. Clawbonny always gave the glory to the man who 
most deserved it. In his account of the journey entitled “The 
English at the North Pole,’ published the next year by the 
Royal Geographical Society, he made John Hatteras equal to 
the greatest explorers, the rival of those bold men who sacrifice 
everything to science. 

But the sad victim of a lofty passion lived peacefully at the 
asylum of Starr Cottage near Liverpool, where the doctor had 
placed him. His madness was of a gentle kind, but he never 
spoke, he understood nothing, his power of speech seemed to have 


pa 









that used to gaze at him verte eats walk for hours every day 
but he always walked in one way, in the direction of a certain — 
path. When he had. reached the end, he would return, walking 
backwards. If any one stopped him, he would point his finger 
at a portion of the sky. If any one tried to make him turn 
round, he grew angry, and Duke would show his anger and = 
furiously. : 
The doctor observed carefully this odd mania; he uriderstacd 
the motive of this strange obstinacy ; he si the reason of 
this walk always in the same direction, and, so to speak, under 
_ the influence of a magnetic force. = 
Captain John Hatteras was always walking towards the north. = 


FINIS. 





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This book is DUE on the last date stamped below. 








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